Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 103, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 March 1917 — CONSTITUTION ELECTION NEXT [ARTICLE]

CONSTITUTION ELECTION NEXT

Indiana Women to Vote for First Time in September. Indiana women will have their first opportunity to vote at the epecial election, to be held on the third Tuesday in next September, for the purpose of electing delegates to the state constitutional convention, which will be held next January. The women will also have the right to vote at the special election to be held some time in 1918 for the adoption or rejection of the new state constitution that will he drafted by the convention. Without doubt the most important and far-reaching action taken by the legislature at the recent session was the passage of the bill calling for the holding of this constitutional convention, for it means an entirely new basic law for the state • for the first time in more than sixty years. For many years there has been widespread agitation in favor of a new constitution.

Indiana Women to Vote for First Time in September.

Efforts of various kinds were made to bring about a new constitution, but all of them failed until this time, . T v • " » ' It has been demonstrated that it is nearly impossible to amend the present constitution, because of the iron-clad process involved in such action. A number of amendments to the constitution have been proposed and submitted to the people, but only a few have been adopted. The demand for important changes in the basic law of the state became so persistent that it resulted in the action of the legislature this year in calling for a constitutional convention. Under this act the constitutional convention will open on the second Tuesday in January, 1918, and it will be held in the chamber of the house of representatives in the capitol, in Indianapolis. The convention will consist of 115/ delegates. Fifteen will be elected by the voters of the state at large, and 100 will be elected from the state representative districts, the same as members of the house of representatives are elected. The election of delegates to the convention will be held throughout the state on the third Tuesday in September, 1917, and it will be held under all of the election laws that govern a general election. election board in each precinct in the state will consist of one inspector and two clerks, all to be appointed by the circuit court judge of the county, and they will receive the same pay and have the same authority as election officials at general elections. The election will be non-political and non-partisan. Candidates for delegates will be nominated by nominating petition only. Any qualified voter may run for delegate by filing with the secretary of state not more than sixty days nor less than thirty days before the election a petition signed by no fewer than 200 qualified voters of his district. Candidates for dele-gates-at-large are required to file petitions signed by no fewer than fifty voters in each congressional district of the state. Each candidate shall give his full name and address and state that he will qualify as delegate if elected. If objection is made to a candidate the secretary of state shall hear and determine the case and his decision will be final. The ballots shall be printed so as to place the name of each candidate in a district at the top of the list on an equal number of ballots, thus preventing any discrimination. There shall be no emblem or distinctive design on the ballot. Any vacancy occurring among the district delegates shall be filled by special election, and any vacancy among the delegates-at-large shall be filled by the remaining delegates-at-large. The convention shall be the Judge of the and qualification of its members, and the rules that will govern the convention will be the same as those that govern the house of representatives. The convention will elect a president and other officers and appoint committees. Delegates shall receive the same pay and mileage allowed to members of the house of representatives and shall fix the pay of its employes. The bill appropriates whatever sum is required to pay the vnense of the convention. A majority of the delegates will constitute a quorum to transact business. All public officials are required to supply all Information that is desired by the convention, and failure to do so will be punishable by a fine of S3OO. Provision is made for the publication and distribution' of 20,000 copies of the present constitution and 20,000 copies of the constitutional convention act as passed by the general assembly. The constitutional convention act contains a provision requiring the bureau of legislative Information to prepare and supply to the convention all available data on the constitutions of other states and an annotated digest of the present Indiana constitution, and $3,000 was appropriated to’ pay for this work. But the legislature Inserted a clause in the regular appropriation bill abolishing the bureau of legislative Information, taking effect the first day of next October, and this source of information presumably will then be closed. No time limit is placed on the convention, It may take as much time as it may require for its work, and it is believed that the work can not be completed under three months. When the convention has drafted its proposed constitution it shall

set* a date for a special election, at which the question of adoption or rejection of the proposed new constitution Shall be submitted to a vote of the people of the state. The selection of the date for the election is left wholly with the convention. There is a provision in the act whicH says that on the petition of forty-fiVe delegates any particular question or provision of the proposed new constitution may be submitted separately on the ballot, so that the people may adopt or reject it independently of the remainder of the constitution.