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THE PRESIDENT: The pages will dis-
tribute Amendment B.
For what purpose does Delegate Vecera
rise?
DELEGATE VECERA: Mr. President, I
do not know whether I voted for or against
the amendment. I wanted to be recorded
against the amendment.
THE PRESIDENT: You do not know
how you voted?
(Laughter.)
DELEGATE VECERA: I wanted to vote
against the amendment. I think I voted for
it.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Vecera, the
tally sheet indicates that you voted in favor
of the amendment. If you cast that vote
under a misapprehension as to what you
were voting on, you are not permitted to
change the vote except by unanimous con-
sent. If in fact the vote was in error by
reason of the machine operating improperly
or your switch operating improperly or your
finger hitting it the wrong way, you may
have your vote recorded properly.
What the Chair is trying to say to you is,
if you cast your vote differently from what
you intended, not because of a misunder-
standing, but just because you hit the lever
the wrong way and you tell the Chair that
is what you did, the vote will be changed.
Otherwise, it can only be changed with
unanimous consent.
DELEGATE VECERA: Yes, Mr. Chair-
man.
THE PRESIDENT: What is that?
DELEGATE VECERA: I hit the switch
the wrong way.
(Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate Vccera's
vote will be changed from Yea to Nay.
The tally on the previous vote will there-
by be corrected. There being 60 votes in the
affirmative and 63 in the negative, the
motion is lost.
For what purpose does Delegate Borom
• o
rise -
DELEGATE BOROM: A question of Dele-
gate Vecera.
THE PRESIDENT: He does not have the
floor.
DELEGATE BOROM: I would just like
to know if he would swear by this.
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(Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: Amendment B will
be Amendment No. 2.
The amendment is submitted by Delegate
Sickles. Is there a second ? Is there a sec-
ond?
(Whereupon, the amendment was duly
seconded.)
THE PRESIDENT: The amendment is
seconded by Delegate Bennett.
The Chair recognizes Delegate Sickles to
speak to the amendment.
First, the Clerk will read the amendment.
READING CLERK: Amendment No. 2 to
Committee Recommendation GP-2, as
amended by Report S&D-4, by Delegate
Sickles: On page 1, Section , Oath,
strike out all of line 11 and insert in lieu
thereof the following:
t< itr >J.
••-> j >
And in line 20 after the word "State"
add the words: "(So help me God)".
THE PRESIDENT: The Chair recognizes
Delegate Sickles.
DELEGATE SICKLES: Mr. President
and fellow Delegates:
If you look at the amendment you see
what it does. It removes the clause that we
have been discussing at some length, "In
the presence of Almighty God," and sub-
stitutes in lieu thereof at the end of the
proposed oath, also in parenthesis, "So help
me God."
I think at first blush you might be in-
clined to conclude that there is no difference.
Let me explain just why I have proposed
this amendment. You have been listening
to references to the Supreme Court cases,
and one of the cases that was referred to
was the Torcaso case. I can remember the
day when Roy Torcaso walked into my office,
because that was a case that I handled. I
wish I could stand here and say to you what
the law is on this subject. I wish I could
be definitive and say what the implications
are.
I have listened to the arguments, and I
think that most people have given their
best advice on it. But nobody is quite sure
what the implications would be.
I worried about this because I do not
think that even those of us who want to
pay respect or allow those who want to pay
respect to the Lord when they take the oath,
want to do anything that will impede the
oath or hurt the constitution.
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