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will try to finish the question period and
then I would recognize Delegate Powers.
Delegate Chabot, do you have a question?
DELEGATE CHABOT: Yes, sir. Dele-
gate Byrnes, you described very briefly
some of the general statistical results com-
paring the presidential elections with other
elections.
Did I understand correctly that the first
of the alternatives the minority is going to
present, however, would not involve the
presidential years but would involve the
counties running with the governor?
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
Delegate Byrnes.
DELEGATE BYRNES: I cited evidence
of the value of merging county elections
with both gubernatorial and presidential
year elections and I suggested that the first
amendment would be that the status quo be
retained and that gubernatorial and county
level elections be merged. If that failed, we
would seek the possibility of suggesting an
amendment to presidential years.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
Delegate Chabot.
DELEGATE CHABOT: Let us examine
some of the matters with regard to the gov-
ernor, if you will.
You have the statistics. Could you indi-
cate to us what sort of drop-off there was
in the City of Baltimore between the vote
for the head of the ticket in the guberna-
torial elections and the vote for the head
of the ticket in the mayoralty elections in
those years that you have figures? What
was the average reduction?
DELEGATE BYRNES: The average re-
duction? I have to go through each one.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
Delegate Chabot.
DELEGATE CHABOT: Could you give
us whatever you can that would be mean-
ingful to indicate the extent of reduction?
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
Delegate Byrnes.
DELEGATE BYRNES: You are talking
now from mayor to the president of the
city council, et cetera? Is that the drop-off
you mean?
DELEGATE CHABOT: I am talking
about the drop-off between the vote for the
head of the ticket in the gubernatorial
year, total vote for governor, to the vote
for the head of the ticket in the mayoralty
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year, that is, the total vote for the mayor.
What was the drop-off between those
figures?
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
Delegate Byrnes.
DELEGATE BYRNES: I think I cited
the 1963 Baltimore City figures, compared
to the 1966, sorry, Baltimore County, I
have cited approximately 12 percent dif-
ference.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
Delegate Chabot.
DELEGATE CHABOT: My question
was, taking one jurisdiction at a time, in
Baltimore City what was the drop-off? The
figures, I understand, based on material
that was distributed to members of the
Committee on Suffrage and Election today
and yesterday in response to a request by
you, indicate that from 1962 to 1963, the
vote was actually greater in the mayoralty
election in Baltimore than the guberna-
torial election and it indicates that from
1958 to 1959 the vote was substantially
greater in the mayoralty election than in
the gubernatorial election.
I wonder if those statistical results are
correct, that is, that in Baltimore City at
least more voters exercised the right with
regard to the top of the ticket in the
mayoralty elections in those two years than
the gubernatorial elections in the preceding
years.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
Delegate Byrnes.
DELEGATE BYRNES: I have in 1962
the turnout in Baltimore City for governor
was 48 percent. Is that the figure you are
citing?
DELEGATE CHABOT: I have 203,000
votes cast for governor in 1962.
DELEGATE BYRNES: That is right,
48.6 percent.
DELEGATE CHABOT: And 212,000
votes cast for mayor in 1963.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
Delegate Byrnes, do you accept those
figures?
DELEGATE BYRNES: Yes, it is what
I have, which is a higher turnout for
mayor in 1963.
DELEGATE J. CLARK (presiding) :
Delegate Chabot.
DELEGATE CHABOT: And in 1958 I
have 151,000 votes for governor while in
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