Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 38, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 August 1912 — SPEGIAL EFFORTS ARE BEING MADE [ARTICLE]

SPEGIAL EFFORTS ARE BEING MADE

To Register All Voters By Explaining taw’s Benefit. CIRCULAR FOR DEMOCRATS Explains Why Law Was A Enacted and Also Settles Mooted Question In Opposition to the Measure. Every possible effort will be made by all the political parties to get every voter in the state registered so they may all have the right to vote this fall. It is estimated that about 50 per cent of the total vote of the state was registered at the May registration, leaving about a half of the voters yet to register at the September and October Sessions of the registration boards. The next registration time will be Friday, September 6, and the last chance the voters will have to register will be the October session, on Monday, October 7. From many parts of the state there have come reports of indifference on the part of some of the voters toward registration, some of the voters apparently regarding the requirement of registration as an affront to their dignity as citizens. The state and county political organizations hax-e tried and still are trying to make it plain to the voters that the registration iaw is not intended to place a burden on them, but is for their protection against the dishonest voter.

Along this line Bernard Korbley, democratic state chairman, has pre- ! pared a circular which is being sent to all Democratic precinct com- ; mitteemen in the state, a part of which reads as follows: “If there are any democrats residing in your precinct who object to registering we would suggest that you explain to them that prior to the year 1881 the legislature of Indiana did not have the authority to pass a registration law; that the people who then lived in the state realizing the necessity of a registration law, voted to amend the Constitution to read, ‘That the General Assembly * * * shall also provide for thd registration of all persons entitled to vote.’ This amendment was submitted to the voters of Indiana in 1881 and was carried by a majority vote of over 8 7,000. (See Section 2, Article 11, Section 14, Article 11, of the constitution of Indiana; also the cases of Morris et al vs. Powell, 125 Ind., page 285 and Brewer vs. McClelland, 144 Ind, page 423.) “In compliance with the command of the Constitution as amended, the legislature ,in Indiana, in 1889, passed a registration law that required all persons who had been absent from the state of Indiana six months or more to register in order to vote. In the case of Morris vs. Powell, 125 ( Ind., page 281, the supreme court of Indiana held the registration law to be unconstitutional because it did not apply alike tp all voters throughout Indiana. In its decision the supreme court says:

‘That the general assembly has the power to enact a law providing for a uniform system of registration of all voters, we think, can not be controverted, and that it is made the duty of the general assembly by the Constitution to enact a law providing a reasonable, uniform and impartial system of registration of all voters must beaconceded * • “Again in the case ot Brewer vs. McClelland, 144 Indiana, Page 423, the supreme court of Indiana held that the legislature had no power to require one class of qualified voters shall register, before being entitled to vote, when similar restrictions are not imposed upon other classes of voters. In other words, that the registration law, to be valid, must apply alike to all in every part of the state of Indiana. “In order, to comply with that provision of our constitution that says the general assembly • * * shall also provide for the registration of ail persons entitled to vote* the legislature of Indiana of 1911 passed our present registration law, the

provisions of which are reasonable, | uniform and impartial. . “If any democratic voter of your precinct, after the above facts are fully explained to him. is still dissatisfied with the registration law, then explain to hint that the registration law was not passed to place an unnecessary burden upon the honest voter, but it was passed for the purpose of preventing dishonest and illegal voting. The registration law is a protection to the nonest and legal voter. Tt is a well known fact that in cer-iin centers of population a great many illegal votes are cast at each election. “At the election of 1908 a number of democratic candidates on the state ticket were defeated by pluralities of than one hundred votes. We are satisfied that every democrat on the state ticket in the election of 1908 would have been elected put foi the illegal votes that were cast ard countei against Our ticket. If we had had a registration law in the election of 190&, such as we :..»w have, the entire democratic ticker in 19 uS would have been elected. "An illegal vote in Marion county will offset a legal vote in your precinct, and if there are a thousand illegal votes throughout Indiana, those one thousand illegal votes will Offset as many legal votes in your county. If the registration law will prevent these illegal votes being cast throughout Indiana it is a protection to the legal voter of your precinct. “The registration law may not be necessary in your precinct, but there are precincts in Indiana where it is necessary. In passing the registration law, the legislature had to make it apply to every precinct in the state of Indiana—Jo all voters alike—otherwise the law would be unconstitutional. “We feel that no voter in your precinct will refuse to register when he understands fully the duty imposed by the constitution on our legislature to enact a registration law, the purpose of our present Jaw, and the evil which its enforcement intends to remedy.”