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will be Amendment No. 19. Delegate Bothe.
DELEGATE BOTHE: Mr. Chairman,
these provisions for disqualification of
voters has given considerable difficulty to
this Committee as they did also to the
Constitutional Convention Commission,
which proposed language somewhat differ-
ent from that which the majority of the
committee brought to the floor.
First, it is my belief in proposing that
the section be deleted, that the General
Assembly should have no authority of any
sort to disenfranchise anyone otherwise
qualified to vote. But secondly, even if I
did not entertain that view, the difficulty
in specifying in the constitution what kinds
of people may be disenfranchised and dis-
qualified and under what conditions is
such a can of worms that I suggest it best
be left closed and untouched in the con-
stitution.
The qualifications set forth in the com-
mittee report are two. One goes to persons
who have been adjudicated non compos
mentis. -As an attorney, I can tell you, and
I think the other lawyers in this room will
agree, that the procedure of adjudication of
people who are mentally incompetent is
very rarely used. There are many more
mental incompetents in the hospitals and
around the State than are adjudicated non
compos mentis. I believe the figures Dele-
gate Ross gave me were that less than five
per cent of people in the mental institu-
tions would be disenfranchised under this
category if the General Assembly so chose
to legislate. The other ninety-five percent
of those so incompetent as to require hos-
pitalization in a mental hospital would re-
main eligible to vote.
As to the category of people who have
committed crimes, we had some discussion
on this floor about that yesterday. As you
know, the present Constitution disenfran-
chises people who have committed infamous
crimes and obviously the Committee did not
intend that the new constitution be that
stringent.
I suggest to you, as a number of dele-
gates did yesterday, that the automatic
disenfranchisement of anybody because of
his acts is an extremely dangerous prece-
dent. I think if we are going to put cate-
gories for disqualification in the constitu-
tion, there are a lot more sensible ones we
can set forth. Por instance, we could state
that a person with an IQ under 70 should
not vote, or as one delegate proposed that
people over a given age be automatically
disenfranchised. Rather than do any such
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thing, I think we ought to allow every citi-
zen who meets the minimal qualifications
the opportunity, if he sees fit, to take ad-
vantage of voting. We should not tamper
with this sacred right. We have not done it
in other areas of the constitution and I
just feel we should not do it here. The right
to vote is too important.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any ques-
tions of the sponsor of the amendment?
Delegate Clagett?
DELEGATE CLAGETT: Will Delegate
Bothe yield to a question?
THE CHAIRMAN: State the question.
DELEGATE CLAGETT: The disquali-
fication provision of the draft constitution
provided that the General Assembly shall
by law establish disqualifications for voting
by reason of mental incompetence or for
conviction of serious crime and may pro-
vide for the removal of such disqualifica-
tions. Is that not correct?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Bothe.
DELEGATE BOTHE: I believe you are
right. I might add I feel that preferable
to what the Committee came up with, al-
though I would prefer that there be no such
provision at all.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any fur-
ther questions?
Delegate Cardin.
DELEGATE CARDIN: Under your
amendment, Delegate Bothe, would that
mean that those in penal institutions at
present would be permitted to vote?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Bothe.
DELEGATE BOTHE: Yes. However, a
great many people in penal institutions
right now are eligible to vote. I happen
to live in the same district where the peni-
tentiary is located and I gave that question
a little thought when I was running for
this office. (Laughter.)
As a practical matter, those who have a
franchise in mental hospitals and prisons
have not been exercising it. I have won-
dered sometimes why no one sought to give
them the opportunity, but I do not think it
would change the situation over what it is
today to any measurable extent.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Cardin.
DELEGATE CARDIN: Forgive me but
I cannot resist asking if they are a captive
electorate?
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