law for a uniform registration of the names
of all the voters in this State who possess
the qualifications prescribed in this Arti-
cle".
It could very well be that the Court of
Appeals has changed this meaning, but I
should submit that generally in the country
there is a constitutional distinction, and
I am wondering if we ought to depart from
it here without knowing a little more than
I do just at the moment.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are there any
further questions for the purposes of clari-
fication? Delegate Macdonald.
DELEGATE MACDONALD: I would
like to ask the spokesman for the minority
a question. Mr. Chabot, how is this done
in other states? Do they use as their base
the number of voters voting in the last
gubernatorial election, or do they use your
suggested base? Do you know the answer
to that question?
DELEGATE CHABOT: In all of the
states that I have been able to examine or
that we have received reports about, the
base is either the number who voted for
governor, or the number who voted for
some other specified officer, or the total
number of persons who cast votes in that
election. What I am suggesting is that in
this one small matter we be a bit more
rational and practical.
DELEGATE MACDONALD: In other
words, in other states they always use the
number of votes cast?
DELEGATE CHABOT: Yes, sir.
DELEGATE SCHLOEDER: Mr. Chair-
man?
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Schloeder.
DELEGATE SCHLOEDER: Would the
speaker for the Minority Report yield for
clarification?
THE CHAIRMAN: Will the delegate
yield?
DELEGATE CHABOT: Certainly.
DELEGATE SCHLOEDER: As a mat-
ter of fact on two points: to Delegate Bur-
dette the term qualified voters is used in
the Constitutions of Arizona, California,
South Dakota, Alaska, New Mexico, among
others; and to Delegate Macdonald, in the
present Michigan Constitution, they speak
of registered voters.
THE CHAIRMAN: For what purpose
does the delegate rise? |
DELEGATE BRADSHAW: Will the
delegate yield?
DELEGATE CHABOT: Yes.
DELEGATE BRADSHAW: I would like
to know to what extent would your pro-
posal increase the number of signatures
that would be required in the event that
this Convention reduces voting age to
nineteen?
DELEGATE CHABOT: Since this pro-
posal would be based on the number that
would be registered at the last guber-
natorial election. At that point, if we
lowered the voting age to nineteen, and if
nineteen-year olds registered in the same
proportion as persons twenty-one and over,
it would increase the number of signatures
necessary by approximately 6 or 61/2 per
cent.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Storm.
DELEGATE STORM: If the Chairman
will yield for a question.
DELEGATE CHABOT: Yes.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chairman of
the Minority.
DELEGATE STORM: The Minority.
Your proposal appeals very much to me,
and I like the idea of increasing both the
time and the number required. You have
very convincing arguments on the regis-
tration, but I was wondering if your pro-
posal should fail, if a decent compromise
would be to make it "persons qualified to
vote", not for governor, but for attorney
general, if this would be an acceptable
amendment to you?
THE CHAIRMAN: A point of inquiry.
Delegate Chabot, are you going to answer
that question?
DELEGATE CHABOT: Yes. I respect
the political sagacity of the delegate who
made the proposal, Delegate Storm, but
regret fully I must disagree at this point,
and I think that my proposal would not
be assisted by entering into that dispute
at this time.
THE CHAIRMAN: Are these papers
readily available on the qualified voters?
DELEGATE CHABOT: Yes. We were
presented with the current registration
figures from the office of the secretary of
state, and prior figures are available in the
Maryland manual. They are broken down
on a county by county basis, so that any
effort to use the same procedure for legis- |
