the best of everything, but the last time
they counted, they lost 13,000 voters.
I say that referendum should be a part
of the constitution and should be workable.
70,000 people to sign a petition is too high.
If we are going to put it out of reach,
let's not even consider it. I would like to
reject this proposal.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Schloeder.
DELEGATE SCHLOEDER: At this
time I yield two minutes to Delegate Scan-
lan, and the microphone.
DELEGATE SCANLAN: Thank you,
Delegate Schloeder.
One cardinal phrase that I brought
to this Convention is that we should
strengthen our legislature and not mis-
trust it on every possible occasion.
If I had my druthers I would prefer an
even more severe limitation to the right of
referendum now that we have a General
Assembly that is truly representative of
the people of this State; but I am willing
to go along. I prefer Delegate Gilchrist's
amendment, and I hope no matter what
happens on that, that we do make the neces-
sary changes in section 3 to eliminate the
ambiguity contained in the words "after
the date of enactment," which in a few
moments I think we will see as meaning-
less; but within that context I certainly
support the amendment by Delegate Chabot.
At least the figure for registered voters is
reasonably certain; it rises slowly but
gradually each year. It is true, as Delegate
Pascal says, when you have a reregistra-
tion on occasion you will lose substantial
numbers from the voters' lists, but those
quickly catch up, and the number at least
is a gradually certain increasing figure as
opposed to the more volatile number of the
total number of votes cast for governor
in the most recent gubernatorial election.
I think in that respect, although it is
perhaps not as drastic a difference between
the Majority Report as some think to be
the case, I believe it is worthy of your
support, and it has the offsetting feature
that it does make the gathering of signa-
tures a little bit easier.
I must just reply to one comment by
Chairman Koss. She indicated that some-
how you would be cutting back on the
number of people who would be eligible to
sign a petition. Section 4 asnow proposed,
and I hope it is deleted later, requires the
signer of a petition, of course, to be a
registered voter, so I do not think that
comment was germane. |
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Koss.
DELEGATE KOSS: I yield to Mrs.
Cardin.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Cardin.
DELEGATE CARDIN: Mr. Chairman
and fellow delegates: It is most unfortu-
nate that last week you had delivered to
you, and today, the last pages of a report
called "Direct Legislation," by one Frank
Ralabate. I say it is most unfortunate be-
cause over two-thirds of your questions
would have been answered, had this report
been in your hands when it should have
been distributed. This report was not in
the hands of the Committee until we had
duplicated over two-thirds of that work.
However, you will find in the majority
of the country, in the 22 states that have
referendum, all use a number based on the
gubernatorial vote, irrespective of the offi-
cer for whom they vote in that election, or
the highest officer. None of them use the
registered base.
Secondly, the median percentage for
voters signatures is between 5 and 6 per-
cent. We recognize in the State of Mary-
land that for a short period the referendum
procedure was of use to the extent it
was over-used, so your Committee recom-
mended raising the number from the pres-
ent Constitution of three percent to five
percent, which is already an increase of
some 18,000 signatures.
I do not know how many of you have
secured signatures in the past, but I have
worked on petitions, and I can tell you
that it takes anywhere from five to ten
minutes to qualify an individual who is
going to sign a petition intelligently. I am
not talking about sitting in front of a
shopping center and simply asking signa-
tures with no validity behind them. The
affidavit that is required to go along with
the petitions that are turned into the secre-
tary of state, or to whomever the gover-
nor's representative would be, states very
clearly that you have ascertained that the
person who signed is a registered voter in
specific counties. This is not a fraudulent,
false, or easy thing to do, because you are
responsible for this affidavit.
There are many other difficulties. I would
suggest to you that the Committee, al-
though Committee reports are not sancti-
fied anymore, unanimously voted on the
referendum. To put it at 70,000, to put
suspension at a figure of 35,000 and thirty
days is impossible, and I would like to add
one other item; the matter of volunteers |
