ters of the commanding officer thereof, and
voters of this State belonging to such com-
pany who shall be within ten miles of such
quarters on the day of election, may vote at
such poll; the polls shall be opened at eight
o'clock, A, M., and close at six o'clock, P. M.
the commissioned officers of such company or
such of them as are present at the opening of
the polls, shall act as judges, and any one offi-
cer shall be competent so to act, and if no officer
be present, then the voters in such company
present, shall elect two of the voters present
to act as judges of the election; before any
votes are received, each of the judges shall
take an oath or affirmation, that he will per-
form the duties of judge according to law,
will prevent fraud and observe and make
proper return thereof, and such oath the judges
may administer to each other; the election
shall be by ballot, and any voter may vote in
writing either 'for the new constitution,'
or ' against the new constitution.' "
Mr. BELT. I move to strike out this section.
And not having had an opportunity to be
heard upon the general subject to-day, I beg
leave to remark, upon this matter of soldiers'
voting, that, so far as I am concerned, it is an
entire misapprehension to suppose that the
general principles I have ever held, or hold
now, or expect to bold, would induce me upon
any occasion to deprive any one of his just
and fair right to the elective franchise. I am
not only in favor of soldiers voting, but of
everybody voting. I am not only opposed to
depriving soldiers of their right to vote, but I
am opposed to depriving civilians of their right
to vote after they have been years and years
in this State, without having been out of it
at all.
But the real objection that has obtained in
this State, and in all other States on this side
of the military line, to soldier? voting in camp,
is not that anybody wants to deprive them of
a fair right to vote under the same conditions
under which civilians vote. If they can pro-
cure furloughs, or be detached and come home
and vote as they have done heretofore, under
the same conditions that civilians vote, there
would be no objection on earth to it. But
the objection arises from the circumstance that
it is proposed that these people shall vote no-
body knows where, no matter how many hun-
dreds of miles away from the place where the
election is conducted. It is the total abnega-
tion of all protection against fraud. Nobody
can guarantee a fair election under these cir-
cumstances.
And another objection, and a strong and
conclusive one to my mind, against the policy
proposed to be inaugurated, not from any in-
disposition that the right of suffrage shall be
exercised, is that it is to be conducted by per-
sons who are not officers of the law, and there-
fore a discrimination is made between one
part of our people who are in the State, and
those who happen to be in the military ser- |
vice, in favor of those who are in that ser-
vice. I am opposed to a policy which gives
to men, because they happen to be in the army
and out of the State, who are in a service
which they have chosen with all the known
disabilities of it, an immense advantage of
this sort over our whole civil population. It
is upon this ground and this only that I am
opposed to this system.
The question was then taken upon striking
out the section, and it was not agreed to.
No amendment was offered to the section.
The next section was then read as fol-
lows:
"Section 2. The judges may swear any
one offering to vote, as to his being a legal
voter of this State. The judges shall take
down on a poll book or list the names of all
the voters as their votes are taken, and the
tickets shall be placed in a box as taken; af-
ter the polls are closed, the tickets shall be
counted and strung on a thread, and the judges
shall make out a certificate, which they shall
sign, addressed to the governor, in which they
shall state that they have taken the oath
hereby prescribed, and shall certify the num-
ber of votes taken, and the number of votes
tor and against the constitution; the said cer-
tificates shall be accompanied with the names
of the voters, and shall be plainly expressed,
but no particular words shall be required."
Mr. DAVIS, of Charles. I move to strike
out the word " may, " in the first line, and in-
sert the word "shall." lean see no reason
for swearing voters in the State and not swear-
ing those out of the State.
Mr. PUGH. My understanding of this sec-
tion is this; that these judges are to exercise
their discretion just as other judges do; but
they shall not be required by this constitu-
tion to swear a man whom they know to be
a. citizen, though they may do so if they
choose.
Mr. DAVIS, of Charles, The gentleman
has voted for a provision requiring judges of
elections to swear all civilians offering to vote.
Mr. PUGH, These judges are taking the
votes of soldiers in the field, and they are
supposed to know all the men who compose
their companies.
Mr. DAVIS, of Charles. I think there is a
much greater necessity for swearing voters
who are out of the State than those who are
in it.
Mr. MARBURY. I think it is clearly estab-
lished upon the authority of the best legal
minds of the country that the word " may ' '
here means "shall," and leaves no discre-
tion whatever.
Mr. CUSHING. The officers are convinced
of the loyalty of their men.
Mr. DAVIS, of Charles. They mast be citi-
zens of the State; not only loyal, but citi-
zens of the State.
Mr. HEBB. The requirements of the oath
in regard to civilians are not in relation to |
