|
which he did not success nor did he succeed
in drawing the pay of the office.
There is no possibility that anyone now
in an institution anywhere can either run
for election or vote in an election.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are you ready for
the question?
(Call f or the question.)
The question arises on the adoption of
Amendment No. 19. You do not have it
on your desk. Amendment No. 19 would
strike all of section 5, lines 32 to 40, in-
clusive, on page 2. A vote Aye is a vote in
favor of the amendment to strike the entire
section. A vote No is a vote against the
amendment. Cast your votes. Has every
delegate voted? Does any delegate desire to
change his vote?
(There was no response.)
The Clerk will record the vote.
There being 46 votes in the affirmative
and 81 in the negative, the motion is lost,
the amendment fails.
Delegate Bamberger, do you now desire
to offer amendment AO?
DELEGATE BAMBERGER: I move
adoption of amendment AO.
THE CHAIRMAN: Amendment AO has
been distributed and is on your desk. Dele-
gate Bamberger, does the Chair understand
you offer —
DELEGATE BAMBERGER: If every-
one has that amendment before them, there
are two modifications I would like to make.
On line 5, substitute the word "may" for
the word "shall" and on line 8, substitute
the word "shall" for the word "may".
THE CHAIRMAN: The pages will please
distribute the amendment. Delegates who
have not received the amendment, please
indicate to the pages. Do all delegates now
have the amendment? Delegates who do not
have the amendment, please so indicate and
the pages will bring you one. The amend-
ment AO will be Amendment No. 20. The
Clerk will read the amendment.
READING CLERK: Amendment No. 20
to Committee Recommendation S&E-2, by
Delegate Bamberger: On page 2, section
5, Disqualification, strike out all of lines
34 through 40, inclusive, and insert in lieu
thereof the following:
"The General Assembly may by law es-
tablish disqualifications for voting by rea-
|
son of mental incompetence or conviction of
serious crime, and shall provide for the
removal of such disqualifications."
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment is
submitted by Delegate Bamberger. Is there
a second?
(The motion was duly seconded.)
THE CHAIRMAN: The amendment hav-
ing been seconded, the Chair recognizes
Delegate Bamberger.
DELEGATE BAMBERGER: Mr. Chair-
man, now that everyone has a copy of the
amendment, I will repeat those two modifi-
cations. On line 5, substitute the word
"may" for "shall", and on line 8, substi-
tute "shall" for "may."
First this amendment does not raise
again the question of whether or not the
General Assembly may provide by law for
disqualification for voting for conviction
of a serious crime. I think we can put that
question aside.
What it is particularly addressed to is
the question of disqualification by reason
of some mental illness. The committee rec-
ommendation did not give the General As-
sembly any discretion on that point. The
committee recommendation said that any
person who has been adjudicated non
compos mentis is not entitled to vote.
The problem with that is that the com-
mittee recommendation adopts an adjudica-
tion of a particular fact. An adjudication
non compos mentis is now a very rare oc-
currence in Maryland. It is an almost
archaic and very slightly used procedure
which is provided for in the statutes. It
requires the impaneling of a jury to de-
termine whether a person is competent to
handle his affairs or competent to handle
his person.
The procedure more often used to de-
termine that a person is so mentally ill
that he should be confined to a hospital for
treatment is the certification by two physi-
cians that a person is insane. That is pro-
vided in another section of the law.
The evil that I see in the Committee Re-
port is that first it says that if you are
mentally ill and that happens to have been
determined in this judicial proceeding, then
you shall not be entitled to vote. But if
you are mentally ill and you seek treat-
ment voluntarily or you are committed to
an institution on the certification by two
physicians, then you are still entitled to
vote.
|
