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Delegate Weidemeyer.
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: Mr. Chair-
man, I have an amendment in the process
of preparation which would strike every-
thing after the first sentence, ending with
the word "representatives" in line 13.
Strike everything after the word "repre-
sentatives" in line 13.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any other
amendments to the section 3.03 (b) in the
course of preparation?
Delegate Gilchrist.
DELEGATE GILCHRIST: Mr. Chair-
man, I believe Delegate Fox was preparing
an amendment, even though he is not here
at the moment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Gallagher.
DELEGATE GALLAGHER: Mr. Chair-
man, I would have no objection to doing
this orally, because as I understand it —
THE CHAIRMAN: I just want to find
out what amendments are to be offered
so that we would know the order in which
to offer them.
Delegate Weidemeyer, if the proposed
amendment to be offered by Delegate
Gilchrist were adopted to delete the entire
section 3.03 (b), would you still want to
have an amendment to put back in the
first sentence of 3.03 (b), or would you
stand on the deletion of the entire section?
DELEGATE WEIDEMEYER: If the
Gilchrist amendment prevailed, I would
withdraw mine.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Fox, do you
have an amendment?
DELEGATE FOX: I asked one to be pre-
pared about a half an hour ago.
THE CHAIRMAN: Can you indicate the
nature of it?
DELEGATE FOX: It would only be
offered if the amendment to strike 3.03 (b)
passed. If that passed, and 3. 03 (b) were
struck, then I was going to put a date in
3.03(c).
THE CHAIRMAN: No amendment to
3.03 (b), then?
DELEGATE FOX: No, sir.
THE CHAIRMAN: Any objection to
deleting all of 3.03(b) notwithstanding
that it is not yet printed, if it is printed and
on your desk during the course of the next
half hour?
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The Chair hears none. This will be
Amendment No. 1 by Delegate Gilchrist,
to delete all of the section 3.03 (b) compris-
ing lines 8 to 25 on page 1.
Is that your amendment, Delegate
Gilchrist?
DELEGATE GILCHRIST: Yes, Mr.
Chairman, I should add that this is joined
in by Delegates Freedlander, Fox, Adkins,
Carson, and others.
THE CHAIRMAN : Very well, the amend-
ment having been submitted by Delegate
Gilchrist and seconded by the other
sponsors, the Chair recognizes Delegate
Gilchrist.
DELEGATE GILCHRIST: Mr. Chairman
and ladies and gentlemen of the Conven-
tion: It seems to us that the inclusion of
such a provision as is proposed by section
3. 17 (b) is something which is entirely un-
necessary, clutters up the proposed Con-
stitution with language which is unneeded
and undesirable.
Section 4 of Article 1 of the federal Con-
stitution prescribes that the times, places,
and manner of holding elections for sena-
tors and representatives shall be prescribed
in each state by the legislature thereof, but
the Congress may at any time by law
make or alter such regulations except
as to the places of choosing Senators.
By that section, the federal government
has preempted the field of Congressional
elections.
By the section which is proposed to be
included in the Constitution, the Conven-
tion is being asked to invade a field that
has already been preempted. We believe
that this section is not necessary. The fact
that it is unnecessary is demonstrated by
the omission of such a provision from the
model state constitution.
If we adopt the section, we may very well
find ourselves in a position where the stand-
ards and procedures which are prescribed in
this proposed section will freeze into our
constitution standards and procedures which
are inconsistent with the federal constitu-
tion, or with law which might be adopted
pursuant to the federal constitution.
If we adopt such a thing as the fixed per-
centage of a ten percent variance permitted
under the proposed sections, we may well
find ourselves freezing into our constitution
a percentage which is inconsistent with that
which is to be adopted by the federal con-
stitution, or the laws pursuant to it.
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