Mr. HEBB. I move to strike out the word
" not" in the nineteenth line of this section.
Mr. CHAMBERS. I understand that the dif-
ficulty is the question whether the word
"not" should be in or out. It seems to me
to be a plain question. The intention of this
last paragraph is to give a vole to a certain
individual. What is to be the category of
that individual. Let us illustrate it by a
man residing in Queen Anne's county until
he shall have become entitled to vote. it is
intended to secure to him, if be shall remove to
Kent within less than six months prior to the
day of election, not being entitled to vote in
Kent, the right to vote in Queen Anne's, it
is necessary to assume that he was entitled
to vote in Queen Anne's, whence he removed.
A man therefore entitled to vote, and remov-
ing, is entitled to go back and vote in the
county from which he removed until he has
gained a residence.
But what does this say? It says a man
who is " not" entitled to vote. It therefore
gives the right to a man from Queen Anne's
to go back there and vote, provided he is not
entitled to vote there.
The PRESIDENT. Not entitled in point of
residence.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Be must be entitled to
vote where he formerly reaided; and this says
he must be not entitled to vote there.
The PRESIDENT The gentleman will see
that the word "not" does not apply to en-
titling him to vote, but to acquiring a resi-
dence.
Mr. CHAMBERS. Well, sir, he must acquire
a residence in order to be entitled to vote.
Mr. ABBOTT. I understand that a voter
never loses his right to vote. If in any city
or county he has not resided there six months
and is therefore not entitled to vote there, he
must go back to the county from which he
came, or to the city if he went from Balti-
more.
Mr. STIRLING. The interpretation I have
always seen placed upon this section is this.
The gentleman from Kent seems to think it
refers to residence in the county. If it did,
then there would be no necessity for all this
phraseology about the different election dis-
tricts. It says:
"And in case any county or city shall be
so divided as to form portions of different
electoral districts for the election of Congress-
men, senator, delegate, or other officer or
officers, then to entitle a person to vote for
such officer, he must have been a resident of
that part of the county or city which shall
form a part of the electoral district in which
he offers to vole, for six months next preced-
ing the election."
Now the city of Baltimore is so divided as
to form portions of different electoral dis-
tricts. If a man resides in the city of Balti-
more, and moves out of the portion of the
city which forms the third congressional dis- |
trict into the portion which forms the second,
he may go back to the third district to vote,
if he shall have resided six months in the
city. I never beard that a man who moved
out of Baltimore could come back to vote in
the congressional district in which he had
lived at any time within six months after he left
the city. He may go back to the congressional
district in which he lived, provided he is en-
titled to vole in Baltimore city, having re-
sided there for six months. That is the rea-
son why the word "not" should be left
out. It was intended that a man should not
vote at all who had not been somewhere in
the county for six months; but this change
enables a man to vote in a county if he has
not been there six months.
Mr, SANDS. Certainly not.
Mr. STIRLING. Unquestionably.
Mr. SANDS. I never heard any statement
like that.
Mr, STIRLING. I do not think it is intended
to apply to different counties at all, but to
different electoral districts.
Mr. STOCKBRIDGE. I have had some little
practical experience under the constitution,
and I know that a great many judges of elec-
tion have found a practical difficulty. They
have found it easy enough to arrange where
the removals where in the county to different
parts forming different election districts; but
they have found it a census omissus where the
removal was from one county into another, A
person under the old constitution must be a
resident in the county where he proposes to
vote, and must have resided there for six
months. Consequently if he had removed
his house, as is a frequent case, from Balti-
more county to Baltimore city less than six
months before the election, not having resi-
ded in Baltimore city six months, he was not
entitled to vole there, and not being on the
day of election a resident in Baltimore coun-
ty he was not entitled to vote there; and he
could vote in neither place. This was the
case when he bad moved from the county to
the city, or vice versa. I have seen persons
go by the score from the polls where they
wished to vote, where the judges of election
wished their votes to be deposited, because
1 under the constitution their votes could not
be received.
If gentlemen wish to provide for that
which was a casus omissus under the old
; constitution, it is very easy to do it by strik-
ing out "not," and then adding "or any
voter removing from one county to another
may vote in the county from which he re-
, moved until he shall have acquired a resi-
dence in the county lo which he re-
moved." In that way both cases will bepro-
vided for. As I look at this, it will leave the
same casus omissus as under the old constitu-
tion.
Mr. STIRLING. A man has no more right
to go back from one county to vote than he |
