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to govern themselves. Did anyone ever
question that? It was granted to them by
charter, by the General Assembly. Their
representatives came here and asked for
that right. That right was given to them
by the people through the General
Assembly.
That is what I am interested in, rights,
and why should I pay any attention to the
members of Montgomery County or Balti-
more City telling what should happen in
Worcester County, especially Ocean City,
as long as there has been no discrimination
as to American rights.
They have rights to schools, they have
rights to votes, they have rights to the pro-
tection of the police, and they have the
rights of everyone else, and there has been
no mention of discrimination.
The only thing the people of Ocean City
say is "Give us the right to have our own
elections and how they should be held." Is
it not strange that the residents of Ocean
City have elected their mayor, who happens
to be a resident of Ocean City, and he has
pleaded apparently before this Committee
to leave them alone. They have a right to
be governed by their own dictates, or are
we going to force the government that we
think that they should have on them?
I hope this amendment is defeated.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Mentzer.
DELEGATE MENTZER: I would like
to cite the examples of two municipalities,
in support of the minority recommendation.
One is the Ocean City, New Jersey, and
this would include Atlantic City, Cape May
and Asbury Park, that have the same prob-
lem with the resort areas that we have in
Maryland, and there is no provision in
New Jersey for non-property owners to
vote in municipal elections.
The other example is closer to home,
Upper Marlboro, the County Seat of Prince
George's County. There, non-resident prop-
erty owners can vote if they were regis-
tered before December 31, 1965. Now, I
presume the intent of this is that as these
non-resident voters die or sell their prop-
erty, the control would remain with the
municipal residents.
I would like to move this along a little
faster and I would support the minority
report.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gill.
DELEGATE GILL: I would like to ask
a question of Delegate Ross.
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THE CHAIRMAN: Does any delegate
desire to speak in opposition?
Delegate Cardin.
DELEGATE CARDIN: Mr. Chairman,
I would like to cite the case in the Supreme
Court, 371 U. S. 206, 1962. In 1962 the
Supreme Court of Georgia, a three-judge
court, held that property owners who
owned realty in a municipality and who
resided in a county outside the municipality
had the right to vote in the elections of the
municipality along with the residents of
such a municipality.
The case was appealed to the Supreme
Court and that year the Supreme Court
affirmed the decision of the lower court and
the ruling was that the municipality's
charter provision permitting non-resident
property owners to vote was within the
legislative power.
It held that "the constitutional limita-
tions on qualifications for voting could be
supplemented by the General Assembly"
and it continues, but I think this bears out
the point.
We are not restricting the right to vote,
we are extending the right to vote. The
Supreme Court has recently ruled that this
is an extension which the constitution and
General Assembly may give to the munici-
palities and I feel that in this sense, we
would be denying those municipalities the
right.
However, we are not insisting that any
municipality that refuses this need accept
it, and I think this is the basis on which
we must view this.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any other dele-
gate desire to speak in favor of the amend-
ment?
Delegate Roger?
DELEGATE ROGER: Mr. Chairman
and ladies and gentlemen, I would like to
speak in support of the amendment.
I believe for Maryland to adopt any-
thing other than this amendment would
mean that they would be walking back-
wards into the future.
Now, in many states there are qualifi-
cations that may vary in detail but, basi-
cally, they are similar in almost every
state: a requirement of American citizen-
ship, legal age, and certain residence re-
quirements. We naturally would have to
have residence requirements because we
must be familiar with political conditions
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