Evening Republican, Volume 59, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 March 1917 — Good Heavens—We Must All Register Again [ARTICLE]

Good Heavens—We Must All Register Again

T•: r ■ •, , ,- - ✓ On |he closing day of the session the recent legislature passed a bill introduced Joy Senator Beardsley that means there will be a complete new registration of all voters pnor to the special election for- delegates to the constitutional convention which will be held on Sept. 18, next. Had not Senator Beardsley’s bill become a law the new registration machinery provided by the 1917 General Assembly would not have been put into operation until ne?ct . Underthe provisions of the Beardsley law the registration of voters for _ the constitutional convention election must be finished by- August 12, and . as the registration period must cover - at least 60 days, this means that the new registration machinery in the various counties-of the state must be organized and ready to receive registration blanks by June 13. , Under the provisions of the / new registration law boards of registration commissioners must be created in each county in the state and this , board mnst sitincontinuqus session during the full registration period, 4 Sundays and legal holidays excepted, in a room in the county court house. This board consists of the clerk of the circuit court and two others, named :by the chairman of the proceeding general election. This board is authorized to employ two clerks named by the chairman of the two leading parties .whose pay shall be $5 a day, and such' otfier clerical assistance as may be necessary to complete the registration of the voters* Under the new registration law registrations may be filed in any one of four different ways—in .person, by messenger, by mail or by depositing the registration blanks, properly verified, with the inspector at the primary election. As there will be no statewide primary this year, the latter method of filing registration applications cannot be hsed this year. The Beardsley law was enacted primarily for the purpose of removing all / doubt as to whether women will have a legal right to vote for the delegates to the constitutional convention. Under its operations there can be no doubt whatever as to the right of women voters to vote at the municipal elections this fall.