130

a

134

a

146

a

149

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW ELECTIONS

Property. Poll tax

"Another amendment

. . confers upon regis

R. I. Garvin.
try voters the right to vote in the election of city councils. . . In
the five cities of the state the total number of property voters last
year, which is approximately correct for this year, was 21,105; the
total number of city registry voters now upon the lists is 33,096.
It therefore appears that three fifths of all the voters in the cities
are denied the right to vote for those officials who are nearest to
them and possess the most power over their daily lives.

Miss. Vardaman.

66

Nationality. Race

13 S 04, p.6

.. That the negro was created for some
good purpose, time has demonstrated; but that good purpose is

not participation in the government of white men.
nation should act in this matter and act now..
time the southern states must protect themselves.

Women

The

In the mean

"

19 Ja 04, p.7

Mass. Bates. ". . . Many of my predecessors, including in
recent years Governors Claflin, Washburn, Long, Butler, Ames
and Greenhalge, have. earnestly advocated the granting of
the suffrage to women. . They are equally interested in the
economic and efficient management of civic affairs. They should
have the same right as men, if they so desire, to vote for those who
are to represent them in that management, and that, too, irre-
spective of the question whether other women similarly situated
desire to exercise that right. . . I respect that conservative feel-
ing entertained by many, who, while not convinced either as to
the benefit or the harm that would result from a complete exten-
sion of the suffrage to women, fear the consequences involved
therein... I therefore recommend that you grant to women the
right to vote for municipal officers. . ."
7 Ja 04, p.30-31

130-51

151

Corruption and miscellaneous offenses

a R. I. Garvin. “. . . Information comes to me from various
sources that at the recent general election many electors went to
the polls in a state of intoxication. I therefore recommend that
you pass a law forbidding the sale of intoxicating liquors on elec-
tion day, in any town or city, until after the hour of the closing of
the polls in that town or city."
5 Ja 04, p.8

153-60

153

N. Y. STATE LIBRARY GOVERNORS MESSAGES 1904

Bribery

a

See also 250, Crimes against the government

R. I. Garvin. ". The recent election has shown once more that, in some of our towns, the result may be altered by bribery of voters... I renew my recommendation of last March, that a commissioner for the suppression of bribery be appointed and that an appropriation be made for his use."

5 Ja 04, p.7-8 b R. I. Garvin. "Section 4 of chapter 14 of the general laws, which provides that upon the conviction of any person of bribery of any voter the complainant shall recover from the general treasurer $50, should be so amended as to make the amount at least $200. This simple change in the law will do much to make effective the efforts to stop bribery at the approaching election." 13 S 04, p.8

a Fla. Jennings. "The Democratic State Convention held at Jack-
sonville, beginning on the 19th day of June, 1900, in its platform
unanimously adopted, did declare and provide for the nomination
of all candidates for office, both state and county, and of United
States senators, by a majority vote, in white Democratic primary
elections, held under the provisions of law, which shall provide all
possible protection against fraud, bribery, intimidation and other
vicious influences; said primaries to be uniformly held throughout
the state on the same day; and did pledge the party to the passage
of all laws to that end. The Legislature (session of 1901) enacted
a law (chapter 5014) on this subject, thus firmly establishing the
primary system for nominating candidates for any office under the
laws of this state, and for nominating delegates to political con-
ventions. The primary held for the nomination of candidates at
the general election, 1900, and the general primary election for
the nomination of state and county officers (elective), representa-
tives in Congress and United States senators, in July, 1902, by the
Democratic party, has met with universal commendation. Much
complaint has been made about the provision of the law requiring
the payment of poll tax as a prerequisite to participation in a party
primary election, and, as it is apparent that this tax was not
intended as a party measure, I, therefore, recommend that this
feature of the law be repealed."
7 Ap 03, p.46-47

b

Ga. Terrell. "I call your attention to and invite your consideration of the growing sentiment in our state in favor of placing around our primary elections every safeguard necessary to make them absolutely fair in every particular. These elections are now practically the equivalent of general elections in Georgia, and no

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160

voter should be allowed to vote therein unless constitutionally
and in pursuance of law eligible to do so, and every vote deposited
should be sacredly guarded, and with scrupulous honesty counted.
I recommend, therefore, that you pass an act making all election
and registration laws extend to primary elections-municipal,
county, state and federal-so far as the same may be applicable,
and provide for the infliction of appropriate penalties upon any per-
son violating any of said laws in registering for or voting at such
primary election. Appropriate legislation should also be enacted
providing for contests before proper executive committees of the
party, and giving authority to said committees, or under their
direction, to subpoena witnesses, administer oaths, and do such
other acts as may be necessary under the rules and regulations of
the party, to ascertain or declare the person or persons entitled to
receive the nomination of the party, and to provide for appeals.
The pay of managers holding the elections, and the clerks serving
thereat, should, in the case of primaries, as in general elections, be
borne by the counties or state, and the use of money, by a candi-
date for office, to influence voters to support him, should render
him ineligible to hold office.
22 Je 04, p.3-4

c Ia. Cummins. "There has been much discussion in Iowa during
the past few years respecting a primary election law, and I believe
that public opinion has gradually ripened so that now there is a
great preponderance of sentiment in favor of some regulation that
will insure common decency and fairness in the nomination of
candidates for office. There is practically no fraud, dishonesty,
or even unfairness in the conduct of general elections, but the man-
ner in which caucuses, party primaries, and other proceedings
leading up to nominations are held; and the practices which attend
them in many parts of the state, have become intolerable with
clean, fair-minded people.
While I recognize that
there are wide differences of opinion concerning the scope, as
well as the detail of such a law, I venture to express the opinion
that it should have the following features: Ist-It should include
all municipal, county, state, and congressional offices, filled by the
voters. 2d-The primary election for all political parties should
be held at the same place and time. 3d-It should include a sys-
tem of registration, where registration is now required at general
elections, and where registration is not required at general elections,
it should include an adequate plan for identifying the voters.
4th-It should provide severe penalties for fraud, intimidation and
bribery.
The greatest objection which I have found in
studying the measures adopted by other states, and the subject

160

d

N. Y. STATE LIBRARY

GOVERNORS MESSAGES 1904

generally, has been that in the complete primary election system, a plurality, instead of a majority, will nominate. I regard this as a weakness, because it prevents in some instances the exercise of a second choice, which is ofttimes of great value. It seems to me, therefore, that the delegate convention ought to be preserved, and that the law should arrange for the selection of delegates. If any candidate, whether for a city, county, state or congressional office, receives a majority of the votes cast in the territory which fills the office, the delegates chosen would have no other duty but to record the decision of the voters. If, however, no candidate receives a majority of the votes cast by his party, then the delegates chosen with the instructions given them by the vote, should work out in the convention their second choice."

12 Ja 04, p.15-16 La. Blanchard. "The State Central Committee of the Democratic party (the dominant political organization of the state) ordered a primary election to nominate the candidates of that party for positions on the state ticket. It was the first time its candidates for state positions were so nominated. . . In the long campaign preceding the primary election, and in the conduct of the election, it was found that the present law relating to primary elections is entirely inadequate to their proper relation. It

is recommended that a new statute be enacted controlling and
regulating primary elections and providing, in part at least, for
the expenses of the same. Such a law should carefully pro-
vide that none but bona fide adherents and supporters of the
party holding the primary should be eligible to vote thereat,
and should punish with adequate penalties those who are
guilty of bribery, or of frauds in the conduct of the election .
A primary election held to nominate candidates of a political party
for state positions should be separated from primary elections held
to nominate local candidates in parishes or districts. . . Political
campaigns are too long drawn out in Louisiana. The law
can and should regulate this. It can be done by prescribing
that the central or general committee of a political party shall
not meet to order state nominations before a certain time (to be
fixed) prior to the date of the legal or regular election, and that
no local party committee shall meet to order local nominations
until after the central committee of such party shall have met
and ordered state nominations.
The Constitution of the

state provides for the election of district judges and district attorneys at a time distinct and separate from the state and parochial officials... Nominating judges and district attorneys, who were to be voted for at one and a more remote election, at the

CONSTITUTIONAL LAW ELECTIONS

e

g

same time with other officials, who were to be voted for at another and nearer election, was an avoidance and contravention of the purpose and intent of the Constitution, and was an abuse. It is recommended that separation of judicial nominations from other nominations be enforced by legal enactment."

N. Y. Odell. "..

16 My 04, p.11-12
Miss. Vardaman. Amendment of primary election law by elimi-
nating the electorial and plurality features, and prescribing the
severest punishment for the improper use of money and other fraud-
ulent methods to control the elections recommended. 19 Ja 04, p.14
f N. J. Murphy. "What is known as the primary election law,
passed by the last Legislature, had its first trial last fall. . . The
law is not quite perfect, and can be improved by some slight
amendments, which will doubtless be offered during the session."
12 Ja 04, p.16
During the past year the Supreme Court
of the first department decided there was no power vested in the
court to remove from the enrolment lists nonresidents or illegal
voters. While the right of challenge obtains, yet this method of
reaching those who were not entitled to vote was not thought to
be sufficient to properly guard the interests of those who were
honestly entitled to participate in primaries. So far as the registry
lists for all general, special and local elections are concerned, the
right of review rests in the courts, and they may order stricken
from the rolls the names of nonresidents and others whose names
remaining upon the list might prove a temptation for illegal voting.
The same rule should apply to primary elections, and the deficien-
cies which exist in the present law should be supplied by amend-
ment to the general law."
6 Ja 04, p.21

h O. Nash. "There is a necessity for the enactment of laws gov-
erning primary elections in this state. . . Abuses in the conduct
of primary elections have been frequent and disgraceful in some
of our cities and in other parts of the state. In many precincts,
as the primaries are now conducted, more votes are often cast by
one party at its primaries than are cast by both parties at the
general election. The system now in vogue invites corruption and
fraud, and I earnestly recommend that some method for controlling
these primary elections be devised that will render them fair and
honest."
4 Ja 04, p.19

i Va. Montague. "I... recommend a general primary law,
analogous to the principles and methods of general elections, opera-
tive upon the sanction of party authorities, thereby permitting the
people to have a direct voice in party nominations or elections."

13 Ja 04, p.4

160