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make doubly sure that there was no provi-
sion in any of those articles which were in
any way dependent upon the oath provided
for in section 9.01.
There are a number of sections in those
articles which provide for the election of
officers and provide for the taking of office
upon a person qualifying. The Chair does
not interpret that as meaning that the sec-
tion will be without meaning if this section
is not adopted and therefore rules that the
question is divisible.
Are there any other requests for division?
Delegate Chabot.
DELEGATE CHABOT: I have a parlia-
mentary inquiry.
THE PRESIDENT: State the inquiry.
DELEGATE CHABOT: As I under-
stand, the requirement for 72 votes for
adoption is a requirement imposed upon us
by the General Assembly and our rules
only as to entire articles and divisions. The
effect of the rule that we have divided upon
is that we not require that the adoption of
a section must also have 72 votes.
My inquiry is whether or not under these
circumstances a division which would re-
sult in our taking a vote upon a single
section by itself is permissible.
THE PRESIDENT: I am not sure I fol-
lowed your reasoning. Will you state that
again, please?
DELEGATE CHABOT: The effect of
the application of —
THE PRESIDENT: May I please have
order. It is a very important question.
Delegate Chabot.
DELEGATE CHABOT: The effect of the
application of Rule 51 to the circumstances
just now before us would require that 72
affirmative votes must be had before these
single sections may be adopted. The pur-
pose of the General Assembly and the pur-
pose of our rules, especially since we just
recently amended them, was to insure that
as to adoptions of parts of this document,
72 votes would be required only in the case
of the entire document and articles or divi-
sions, and we specifically amended the rules
to eliminate a possible interpretation that
a section might have to have 72 votes in
order to be adopted. I suggest therefore the
division of the question in such a way that
we end up voting on a single section and
requiring 72 votes is contrary to the intent
of our rules.
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THE PRESIDENT: Delegate James.
DELEGATE JAMES: Delegate Chabot
conceivably could be right, but we cannot
afford to gamble on the adoption of his
argument. The legislation says each article
and each division, as I recall the words,
must be voted on separately. Now, if we
do not have 72 votes for this particular
section if the question is divided and we
adopt the constitution, it would certainly
invite a lawsuit when the people attacking
the document can say that a substantial
question in the adoption of the constitution
was not adopted by 72 votes, and it is not
a risk worth running.
THE PRESIDENT: Delegate James, I
do not think that is the point that Delegate
Chabot has in mind. If I follow his reason-
ing, it is that since we have amended Rule
59 so as not to require a vote by sections,
he states for the purpose of avoiding a
necessity of having 72 votes on a section
that therefore an interpretation of Rule
51, which permits the division of the ques-
tion so that under the enabling act 72
votes would be required, is improper. In
other words, that the question cannot be
divided.
Is that your point, Delegate Chabot?
My difficulty is that while you state the
purpose of the amendment was to avoid
this particular problem, the Chair does not
conceive or that certainly that was not its
only purpose. The real purpose was to avoid
the necessity of submitting to separate vote
each and every section of the constitution.
The question of whether Rule 51 should
remain notwithstanding the amendment of
Rule 59 was considered and no amendment
was offered deliberately. The Chair there-
fore feels that the division is proper. If
the division is proper, then unquestionably
under the enabling act the vote of 72 votes
is required.
The Chair has some concern about an-
other question not related to either of those.
(Whereupon, the Convention suspended
for a few minutes.)
THE PRESIDENT: The Convention will
please come to order.
The Clerk will ring the quorum bell.
Will the Sergeant-at-Arms please get
every delegate in the chamber promptly.
The Convention will please come to order.
Sergeant-at-Arms, are there any dele-
gates in the lounge?
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