59 So. 863 | La. | 1912
Plaintiff and defendant were candidates for district attorney in the Democratic primary, held in the Twenty-Eighth judicial district, on September 3, 1912. The said district is composed of the parishes of St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, and Jefferson. There is a former judgment in the ease, rendered by us Oct. 10, 1912, under the No. 19,638 (59 South. 791),
A statement of the case fully appears in the judgment already handed down, on October 10, 1912. We therein dispose of several of the questions now presented for a second time on this appeal.
In the very limited time in which we have to dispose of this case, it will be impossible to go into a full discussion of the evidence.
On the list of illegal voters declared upon by defendant is one “not affiliated with the Democratic party”; but we have not been given his name, the circumstance is not alleged in the answer, and we have not been pointed to any portion of the record where evidence concerning him may be found. But his vote becomes unimportant, in view of the fact that among the 48 votes just referred to are several who, the evidence shows, were entitled to vote, and that they voted for Mr. Marrero.
There was no contention whatever as to the vote of St. Charles parish. The evidence was confined to the returns from St. John the Baptist parish and certain wards in Jefferson parish.
After hearing argument on both sides, and examining the evidence 'as best we can, we conclude that the trial judge was correct in his finding. While the evidence does not disclose the person or persons who may have tampered with the five boxes which had been tampered with, there were found in them unfolded ballots which had not apparently been placed therein by the voters on election day. There were other evidences of fraud which it is unnecessary to recount here.
We have already discussed the return from Jefferson parish, in the earlier part of this opinion.
On the list of illegal voters, prepared by the defendant are “nonwhites, 22,” who, he declared, were not entitled to vote at a white Democratic primary, and that they had voted in the parish of Jefferson. I-Ie charges that they are of the colored, or negro, race; and, because of that fact, they could not legally have been permitted to vote at a white primary, although they were legally registered.
“(1) The voter must have resided two years in the state, one year in the parish, and six months in the precinct.
“(2) He must have been legally registered.
“(3) He must have demonstrated, in the method pointed out by the Constitution, the right to register under the educational qualification, or he must own property to the value of three hundred dollars, or he, or some ancestor of his, must have been a qualified elector on January 1, 1867.
“(4) He must have paid the poll tax in each of the two years prior to that in which the election is held.”
No other persons have the right to vote at general elections in this state.
With reference to primary elections, article 215 of the Constitution says:
“The Legislature shall enact laws to secure .fairness in party primary elections, conventions, or other methods of naming party candidates.”
And the Legislature, in section 9 of Act 49 of 1906, page 69, with reference to this subject, provides:
“The qualifications of voters in all primary elections held under this act shall be'the same as is now required by the Constitution and election laws of this state for voters at general elections, subject to an additional political qualification which may be prescribed by the state central committee.”
On the 8th day of July, 1906, the state Democratic central committee adopted the following resolution:
“Mr. Davey moved, and it was duly seconded and carried, that, in compliance with the law, the further qualification of a voter shall be that he shall be a white Democrat.”
The language clearly indicates that a person offering to vote at a Democratic primary must be a white Democrat. But, we do not find that the Legislature has attempted to make color or party affiliation a prerequisite to registration. In 1908, section 4 of Act No. 98, p. 141, it is provided that the precinct register in the registration office in the parish of Orleans shall show and contain, among other things, color and party affiliation of the registered voter. And, in section 28 of the same act, page 147, it is provided:
“That in order that none but those affiliated with and being members of any political party shall participate in any primary election held by any political party, it shall be the duty of the registrar of voters of the various parishes throughout the state to provide an additional space on the regular state registration book immediately following the last perpendicular ruled column in such books, which space shall be headed ‘Party Affiliation, it shall be the duty of the registrar of voters to ask each applicant for registration the question, ‘What political party do you desire to affiliate with?’ and the name of the political party so given by such person so applying to be registered shall be recorded in the column provided on the books of registration. The registrar of voters being thereby required to furnish blank forms for signature by the applicant for that purpose.”
In that section there is no requirement that the person applying for registration shall declare his color, or that the registrar shall declare his color for him.
We are therefore of the opinion that the color of a person has nothing whatever to do with the validity of his registration, and that his registration as a white Democrat will not prevent a candidate in a primary election from contesting the validity of the vote of a colored person, who has voted as a white Democrat. In our former opinion we did not rule that, among the qualifications for registration, is that a person should be of the white race, or of the Democratic party. They are not qualifications for registration, and the registration roll is not conclusive on the questions of color or party af
It is therefore ordered, adjudged, and decreed that the judgment appealed from is affirmed, at defendant’s cost.
Ante, p. 372.