ELECTION LAWS. 



325 



may follow where any failure to produce the 

 required evidence occurs. ... It can not be 

 held that when the poll-books are open through- 

 out the entire year, up to within ten days of 

 the election, and in a public office in the city, 

 there is any abuse as to either the time or 

 manner of obtaining a list of legal voters. . . . 

 We think it may be affirmed that under the 

 requirements of our Constitution it is the duty 

 of the Legislature to provide for a registration 

 of voters ; that it may provide that such regis- 

 tration be completed prior to the day of elec- 

 tion, providing that ample facilities and time 

 for registering are prescribed ; and that it may 

 also provide that one not registered shall not 

 be allowed to vote." 



The New York registration law of 1872 pro- 

 vided for the regulation of elections in all cit- 

 ies and towns of the State except New York 

 and Brooklyn, for which there was a special 

 law. It required the Board of Kegisters to 

 meet on Tuesday, three weeks preceding the 

 election, and sit two days, if necessary. The 

 registers were to make up a list of voters from 

 the poll-list of the last election. They were 

 required to meet again on Friday preceding 

 the election for the revision and correction of 

 the lists. Any qualified voter was permitted 

 on that day to have his ;name put on the regis- 

 try if not already there. No person was al- 

 lowed to vote whose name was not on the list 

 completed on Friday. The validity of this law 

 was recognized by the Court of Appeals, the 

 highest court of New York, in 1875, though 

 the power of the Legislature to pass it does not 

 appear to have been a direct issue in the case, 

 which is reported in 62 New York Reports, 

 186. The Constitution of the State is silent 

 on the subject of registration. 



From this review of the judicial authorities 

 on the subject may be deduced the following 

 conclusions : First, that the Legislature has no 

 power to add to or take from the qualifications 

 of a voter prescribed by the Constitution ; sec- 

 ond, that the Legislature, even when the Con- 

 stitution is silent on the subject of registration, 

 may pass a registration law that is a reason- 

 able regulation of the right of voting, and gives 

 to every voter a reasonable opportunity to 

 vote. But what is a reasonable law, how far 

 the Legislature may go in regulating the exer- 

 cise of the right without impairing the right, 

 is a question on which the courts have differed 

 heretofore and are likely to differ hereafter. 



Party Qualifications for Office. In an opinion 

 filed Oct. 14, 1885, the Supreme Court of Mich- 

 igan held that the Legislature has no power 

 to prescribe party qualifications for office. 

 The new law for the regulation of elections in 

 Detroit provided for the appointment by the 

 Mayor and Common Council of four Registra- 

 tion Commissioners, of whom two were re- 

 quired to be Republicans and two Democrats. 

 The commissioners were authorized to appoint 

 ward registers and inspectors, and these ap- 

 pointments were to be made equally from the 



two dominant political parties. The Supreme 

 Court declared the law unconstitutional and 

 set it aside. The Court held that the statute 

 sets up a political test for office, which is not 

 only contrary to the theory of a "true re- 

 publican government," but is in conflict with 

 the plain letter of the State Constitution, 

 which, after prescribing the form of oath to 

 be taken by all public officers, declares, "And 

 no other oath, declaration, or test shall be re- 

 quired as a qualification for any office or public 

 trust." The reasoning of the Court appears in 

 the following passages of the opinion delivered 

 by Judge Campbell : 



It is a most important principle under our constitu- 

 tional system that no one shall be affected in any of 

 his legal and political rights by reason of his opinions 

 on political subjects or other matters of individual 

 conscience. The political right to freedom of belief 

 and expression is asserted in the most distinct way, 

 and applies to every privilege which the Constitution 

 confers. No one has ever supposed that any new con- 

 dition could be added to those which the Constitution 

 has imposed on the right of suffrage, beyond such as 

 are necessary to guard against double voting, or to 

 prevent its exercise by those who are not legal voters. 

 The only legitimate object of registration laws is to 

 secure a correct list of actually qualified voters. Any 

 attempt to inquire into the sentiments of the voters 

 is not only an abuse, but one which it is the chief 

 purpose of the ballot system to prevent. The ballot 

 is a constitutional method which can not be changed, 

 and its perpetuation means the security to vote with- 

 out any inquisition into the voter's opinion of men or 

 measures ; and it would be entirely meaningless if 

 the voter's choice of candidates for any office must be 

 made from any particular party or number of parties. 

 But the Constitution has made this more specific (al- 

 though this was hardly necessary) by providing, after 

 giving the form of an official oath, that " no other 

 oath, declaration, or test shall be required as a qualifi- 

 cation for any office or public trust." . . . 



It is altogether likely that the framers of the law 

 were of the opinion that the evils of partisan action, 

 and the temptation to carry it to abusive extremes, 

 would be lessened by requiring that one party should 

 not monopolize the offices, but that two should 

 share them. No one can doubt the advantage of im- 

 partiality in public action. But parties, however 

 desirable and unavoidable they may be, and however 

 inseparable from popular government, are not and 

 can not be recognized as having any legal authority 

 as such. The law can not regulate or fix their num- 

 bers, or compel or encourage adherence to them. Many 

 good citizens form no permanent party ties, and, when 

 elections are close, the effort of each party is to detach 

 votes from the friends of the other. Where there are 

 two parties larger than any other, the success of either 

 is very often gained by coalition with a third one. 

 In local matters party allegiance is not uncommonly 

 laid aside for the time being, so that it can not be said 

 that any party is represented in the election. How- 

 ever well meant such a statute as that before us may 

 be, it distinctly makes party adhesion a condition of 

 office ; and not only so, but it puts all but the two fa- 

 vored parties beyond the possibility of representation 

 if the law is obeyed. 



The decision was unanimous. A concurring 

 opinion was written by Chief-Justice Morse. 

 "We must take," he said, "judicial knowledge 

 of the current undisputed history of our State 

 and country, and act upon the assumption 

 and the fact that there are, to-day at least, 

 in the State of Michigan and in the city of 

 Detroit, four political parties : to wit, Repub- 



