Evening star., 1947-11-04
Dual Vote Plan
Defended by
.AuchincIoss
Committee Denies.
Proposal Constitutes
Thfeut to States

home Hule subcommittee Oh LIE
House District Committee today de-
Tended its plan for permitting Dis
trict residents holding voting rights
in their home States to vote in the
proposed city elections here.
A supplemental statement by the
group, which is proposing an elected
council-manager form of govern
ment for the District, said:
I'm granting suffrage to the Dis
trict, the most difficult problem is
to work out method whereby there
is the widest possible opportunity
for participation in local govern
ment on the part of local residents.
Large numbers of the local pop
ulation live in Washington because
they work for the Federal Govern
ment. Many Federal workers, for
various reasons, maintain a State
domicile for voting purposes.
Under ordinary circumstances,
they would not exercise the right to
vote in the District if 1t meant CIV
ing up their State voting rights.
"As long as the District has no
representation in Congress, there is
no possibility that a vote in Dis
trict election and a vote in State
election would allow the same per-
son to vote twice for the same can
didate. Therefore, we could see no
logical reason why persons in the
District could not have dual resi-
dence for voting purposes"
The group said this would be mo
threat" to any State, since it could
if it wished, bar State suffrage to
anyone voting here, nor to the Fed
eral Government, since the voting
right here could be revoked at any
time.
Mason Opposes Vote Plan.
Meanwhile, District Commissioner
Guy Mason said he did not favor
that part of the report which would
permit residents of other States to
vote here He pointed out that al
ready the current income tax law
here exempts all Federal employees
and it would be unfair to the regu-
lar residents of the city, who bear a
heavy tax burden, to permit those
who vote in other States to partici-
pate in election of city councilmen.
This would give outsiders a vote on
the council which would recommenr,
taxes, he said.
Commissioner Mason said he was
disappointed that the Auchincloss
report gave Congress a veto on tax
legislation for the city, and that it
did not recommend national repre-
sentation for the city. The stream
lining of District agencies in II diff
ferent departments, the Commits
sioner pointed out, was similar to
that previously recommended by
the Commissioners.
The Auchincloss Subcommittee
also has declared its willingness to
reconsider some of the powers
it had outlined for the proposed
Joint Congressional Committee to
handle all District matters.
On this, the supplemental state
ment said:
The preliminary report provided
for appointment of a board of elec-
tions by the chairman of the Joint
Standing Committee with the ap-
proval of that committee.
Since the report was issued, the
question has been raised about the
constitutionality of the authority Of
committee of Congress to appoint
or remove officers of District gov
ernment. 1t has been suggested that
such constitutional authority be
vested in the President of the United
States.
THE subcommittee has an open
mind on this as well as the other
constitutional questions involved in
the preliminary report
Earlier, the board of directors OF
the Washington Board of Trade
postponed discussion of a possible
referendum on the home rule ques-
ton until it has received a report
from its Committee on the District
Form of Government.
John A. Reilly, trade board presi-
dent, who suggested having plebi-
scite, said the committee had been
told to make report on the value
of the Auchineless proposals and the
desirability of the straw vote "at
the earliest possible moment"
Mr.. Reilly said he expected the
committee, headed by Maurice Nee,
to complete its study in less than
three weeks. A special meeting of
the board of directors will be called