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ing now for nearly eighty days to bring
the legislature up to where it belongs, co-
equal with the executive and the judicial.
I know of nothing that we could do that
would drop it further back than to permit
this kind of a situation to develop where at
the very beginning of the session, voting
on those who are going to conduct the ses-
sions, we do not have the members stand
up and be counted publicly on a matter as
vital as this.
I think it goes to the very heart of all
that we have been trying to do. I do hope
this amendment will be defeated.
THE CHAIRMAN : Does any other dele-
gate desire to speak in favor of the amend-
ment?
Delegate Marion.
DELEGATE MARION: Mr. Chairman,
I certainly hope we adopt this amendment.
Every citizen of this state in electing its
executive officer has an opportunity to go
into a voting booth and cast his vote in
secret.
By action of this Committee of the Whole
earlier today we approved a provision by
which the president of the Senate may well
become the governor of this State and it
seems to me that the duly elected repre-
sentatives of the State elected by secret
ballot of all the citizens of this State should
have an opportunity to vote in secret for
the person who may very well become the
governor of this State.
I urge its adoption.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Beatrice
Miller, do you desire to speak in opposi-
tion or in favor?
DELEGATE B. MILLER: In favor, Mr.
Chairman.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate James.
DELEGATE JAMES: Mr. Chairman,
fellow delegates, it seems to me it is a
grievous error to equate a secret ballot that
a citizen exercises to elect his representa-
tives with the vote of an elective repre-
sentative.
Certainly it is incumbent upon the elec-
tive representatives to have the courage
enough to cast his vote in the open forum
of debate, in the open forum of public
scrutiny and this certainly seems to me to
create a suspicion of the legislature by cre-
ating a secret ballot situation in which
you almost go into a voting booth and hide
your public views as to who should exer-
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cise the leadership in the halls at Annapo-
lis. It seems to me to elevate the cowardice
in public to a point which I just simply
cannot accept.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Beatrice
Miller.
DELEGATE B. MILLER: Mr. Chair-
man and fellow delegates, I yield to no
one in my efforts to strengthen the legis-
lature here in this Convention, and I am
aware that we have at several times pro-
vided for the accountability of votes, that
is today when we proceeded in the legisla-
tive article, we even said that the final
votes of members in committee shall be
listed and recorded in the journal.
This is because there are times when a
representative is supposed to be account-
able and visible to the people and at those
times his votes should be recorded. How-
ever, there are many times when we vote
as citizens and it is necessary to safeguard
our vote so that it represents the free and
unencumbered judgment which we hold and
in those elections, the elections I would give
you for president or governor or for other
officials, we vote secretly, and this has been
the American tradition.
I think that when we ask our legislators
to go in and set up their own organization,
there is no accountability to the people at
this point. Their accountability should only
be to their own judgment and I would
trust my legislators and for this reason,
I would allow them to vote in secret.
THE CHAIRMAN: Is there any further
discussion?
Delegate Della.
DELEGATE DELLA: Would Delegate
Miller yield to a question?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Miller.
DELEGATE B. MILLER: Yes.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Della.
DELEGATE DELLA: Would you sug-
gest we have a secret ballot on all legisla-
tion?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Miller.
DELEGATE B. MILLER: No, sir. I
thought I had made my point. I do not want
to have a secret ballot on any legislation
because I have elected my representative
and I want to know how he votes on legisla-
tion. But I do not need to know how he
votes on organization. That is a secret
matter.
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