Presentation of memorials and petitions.

Mr. Dahm

Mr. President, I offer the following petition on behalf of the Spanish War Veterans and ask that it be referred to the Committee on Civil Service.

The President - Referred to the Committee on Civil Service.

The Chair lays before the Convention a communication from the secretary of the Committee on Constitutional Amendments, Spanish War Veterans Civil Service Association, which will be referred to the Committee on Civil Service.

Also a communication from a committee of engineers, which will be referred to the Committee on Governor and Other State Officers.

Are there any further memorials or petitions?
Communications from the Governor and other State officers.

Notices, motions and resolutions. The Secretary will call the roll of districts.

The Secretary First district, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth

Mr. Tanner -- Mr. President, I rise to a question of personal privilege. Last evening the statement was made by my friend, Senator Wagner, that he thought that the majority was entirely unappreciative of the work of the minority in this Convention. I don't know what remark in the Record he based that on nor in the strenuous days that we have spent have I had time to look at the Record which has just come 'before me, but before I leave the Convention I should like to say that if such an opinion was derived by my friends on the other side, I think it should be corrected. I think they have worked hard and faithfully, and with very great ability towards per. fecting the articles which we have from the first day here tried to 'perfect and I should be quite unwilling to leave the Convention without an expression of appreciation to that extent. I am compelled, Mr. President, to ask to be excused for at least the coming week. I greatly regret it. I would much prefer to stay here, but I do not believe that I can do so, and therefore, I ask to be excused for the next week.

The Chairman - All in favor of granting the excuse to Mr. Tanner will say Aye. Contrary, No. The excuse is granted.

The Secretary - Seventeenth district, eighteenth,—

Mr. Olcott - Mr. Chairman, a telegraphed memorial from the Spanish War Veterans which I desire to put on record.

The President The memorial will be received.

The Secretary - Nineteenth district, twentieth, twenty-first, twenty-second, twenty-third, twenty-fourth, twenty-fifth, twenty-sixth, twenty-seventh, twenty-eighth, twenty-ninth, thirtieth, thirty-first, thirty-second, thirty-third, thirty-fourth, thirty-fifth, thirty-sixth, thirty-seventh, thirty-eighth, thirtyninth, fortieth, forty-first, forty-second, forty-third, forty-fourth, forty-fifth, forty-sixth, forty-seventh, forty-eighth.

Mr. Lincoln - Mr. President, if this is the proper order of business, I wish to call up the motion made by me some days ago to discharge the Committee on Revision from further consideration of the amendment generally known as the registration measure, printed No. 804, now Print No. 814. I presume that is in order at this time, is it not?

Mr. Rodenbeck - Mr. President, 'I think the bill referred to by Mr. Lincoln was reported last night by the Committee on Revision with a slight amendment, and the Committee on Revision was about to report it'this morning in engrossed form.

Mr. Lincoln - Well, Judge Rodenbeck, the motion made about two weeks ago was'to discharge the Committee on Revision for the purpose of making the amendment in the present print of the bill, and the bill was reprinted No.

814.

Mr. Rodenbeck Yes, we held the bill for about two weeks and upon looking up the Record I found that the bill was not recalled from the Committee on Revision but that your motion 'to recall the bill was laid on the table and the bill was directed by the Convention to be reprinted for the information of the members of the Convention, but the bill was not recalled from the Committee on Revision and last night we reported it with a change, of the word "voters" to "electors".

Mr. Lincoln - Well, my motion now is to take the bill from the table and consider it at the present time.

Mr. Wickersham - Mr. President, I ask that order be preserved in the chamber. It is impossible to hear what is going on.

Mr. Rodenbeck - Mr. President, the bill is really in the Committee on Revision and Engrossment. It was reported last night with amendments, has been reprinted and is now in the hands of the Committee on Revision and Engrossment.

Mr. Lincoln Mr. President, if that is correct, I move to take the bill from the table and then I presume I may discuss it after taking it from the table.

The President - The Chairman of the Committee states that the bill is still in the hands of the Committee on Revision.

Mr. Lincoln - I now move to discharge the Committee on Revision from further consideration of the bill and to amend it as in Printed No. 814.

The President Will Mr. Lincoln send the indication of the amendment to the desk?

Mr. Lincoln - Mr. President, may I suggest that the Clerk read the amendment indicated in the bill.

The President - The Clerk is struggling with the bill now. The Clerk will read the bill as amended, Print No. 814. The Secretary will read the bill as Mr. Lincoln proposes to have it amended.

The Secretary

PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT

To amend section four of article two of the Constitution, in respect to the enactment of election and registration laws.

The People of the State of New York, in Convention assembled, do propose as follows:

Section 4. Laws shall be made for the regulation of elections and for ascertaining by proper proofs the electors who shall be entitled to the right of suffrage hereby established and for their annual registration, which shall be completed at least fifteen days before each general election. Such registration shall not be required for town and village elections except by

express provision of law. In cities and villages having five thousand inhabitants or more, according to the last preceding State enumeration of inhabitants, electors shall be registered upon personal application only. Laws shall be made providing for special registration therein on personal application before such boards or officers as the Legislature shall designate, on a day or days not more than five months prior to the day of election, of such electors as shall then declare under oath that they are engaged in a regular vocation or occupation which will occasion their absence from the county during each of the regular days of registration. Such laws shall require electors so specially registered to establish, on the first regular day of registration, their continued right to vote in the election district for which they were registered but shall not require further personal appearance. Electors not residing in such cities or villages shall not be required to apply in person for registration at the first meeting of the officers having charge of the registry of voters.

Mr. Lincoln - Mr. President.

The President - Mr. Lincoln.

Mr. Lincoln - This amendment, as indicated in italics on page 2 of the proposed amendment just read by the clerk is intended to take care of the demand which we all know still exists on the part of commercial travelers and other persons whose vocation takes them away from their place of residence upon the days now usually assigned for registration. As we all know, this subject came up two or three weeks ago on an entirely different line, that is, under amendments which were proposed for the registration of these voters by affidavit to be filed, as some bills provided, before, and, as others provided, after, the day of registration. It seemed to be the consensus of opinion in this House that registration by affidavit was not desirable and for that reason the other amendments which were pending were defeated. I have introduced this amendment in a further attempt to take care of this situation, but to take care of it in a different manner. That is, to provide for registration of these individuals and classes who are interested in this subject personally but upon days other than days now provided by law. In other words this amendment permits the Legislature to enact appropriate legislation for the purpose of enabling these voters to register upon days to be fixed, not more than five months prior to the days of registration. That would permit registration under this special provision as early as the month of June.

I am told by representatives of commercial travelers' organizations that a large percentage of the men in those lines of work have their vacations or at least their times of least stress in the month of June, and that more of them would be accommodated by permission to register in June than in any other month of the year. However, the amendment as proposed by me permits the Legislature to fix a day or days in any of the months during the five months preceding registration, that is, they might follow out the suggestion of the proposed statute which Mr. Hinman mentioned here the other day, which I believe provided for a single day of registration in July, another in August, and another in September. That would be perfectly feasible under this proposed amendment.

It is necessary, however, to put some limitation upon the powers of the Legislature in this respect and those limitations are imposed in the words "such electors as shall then declare under oath that they are engaged in a regular vocation or occupation which will occasion their absence from the county during each of the regular days of registration.

Mr. Brackett - Mr. President, I want to ask the gentleman a question. The President - Does the gentleman yield?

Mr. Lincoln Yes, sir.

Mr. Brackett - I want to ask if the word "probably" should not be inserted in the sentence "which will occasion their absence", so that it will read "vocation or occupation which will probably occasion their absence".

Mr. Lincoln - I personally have no objection to that but I think that it should be made as emphatic as possible

Mr. Brackett (interrupting) - That is true, but no man can be certain that he will be at a given place or away from a given place on given days.

Mr. Lincoln - I appreciate that, Senator Brackett, but at the same time it seems to me that a man would be perfectly justified in making the affidavit called for here based upon his expectation at the time he registers, and that if we use the word "probable", it may open it up a little wider than we want. Personally I won't object to it if the delegates wish.

A delegate suggests that the words "expect to be absent" or something of that sort be inserted. I have no objection to any of these suggestions, but this language had careful consideration by several gentlemen to whom I presented the amendment.

Mr. Vanderlyn - Mr. President, may we not have a little less confusion? I cannot hear anything. It is impossible to hear anything.

The President - I think Mr. Vanderlyn is justified. There is so much confusion that it is impossible to hear and this is an attempt to perfect a bill in which the delegates have taken great interest.

Mr. Lincoln - Mr. President, in connection with the suggestions of change of verbiage, as I say, I have no personal objection to them, but this particular amendment was carefully discussed with all, I think, of the gentlemen who had the subject under consideration at the time it was before the Convention, about three weeks ago, with the exception of Mr. John G. Saxe. He was absent at the time this was prepared. I was unable to present it to him. All of the other gentlemen with whom I did talk agreed upon the language which is contained in this amendment, and I think it perhaps is wiser to stick to the language there contained. Now, this contains one other provision which is very important, and that is the last

sentence:

"Such laws shall require electors so specially registered to establish, on the first regular day of registration, their continued right to vote in the election district for which they were registered, but shall not require further personal appearance."

That is, we require these men to come before some board in, say, June or July and there go through all the formalities of personal registration, which are required of the ordinary voter in October. But that is not sufficient. After they have done that they must still cause to be filed with the appropriate board of registration on the first day of regular registration in October, further proof that they are residents of the district, and in other ways are qualified to vote in that district. So that we have made the requisite of personal appearance, but at a different time than the ordinary voter. We have kept the requisite of answering all the questions and going through all the formalities which every other voter has to go through, and we have in addition the requirement that upon the first day of regular registration the voter shall then furnish proof of his continued right to vote in that district. Those are the details of the bill, and it seems to me that this Convention should listen to the desires of these gentlemen, several hundred thousand in number, I am told, who are unable to vote each year because of the narrow restrictions of our Constitution and our laws at present.

Mr. Wickersham - Mr. President.

Mr. C. Nicoll Mr. President.

The President - Mr. Wickersham.

Mr. Wickersham Mr. President, when this measure was in the Committee of the Whole, I supported it in the form in which it was then presented. I think the amendment before us to-day is a great improvement on the measure which we considered and passed in Committee of the Whole. I think even those who voted against the measure as originally presented were desirous, if they could, of reaching the evil and enabling a large body of our citizens, whose occupation takes them habitually away from home, and very often renders it impossible for them to register personally - I say I think we all felt a sympathy with them, and a desire to facilitate their compliance with the registration laws if possible. But there was a fear that, by the means provided in the original bill, we should open the door to a greater evil than that we sought to avert.

Now, I think this proposed amendment meets that fear and removes it. It provides that laws may be made which shall designate a day or days five months before an election on which electors may then go and declare on oath, -in person, and declare on oath that they are engaged in a regular vocation or occupation which will occasion their absence from the county during the regular days of registration.

There is a statement of the individual as to what his occupation is, what he insists will be the case, his case on registration day. Abundant opportunity to investigate any person who makes such a statement and to determine the validity of his claim is given.

Then, such laws shall require electors so specially registered to establish on the first regular day of registration their continued right to vote in the election district, for which they were registered, but shall not require further personal appearance. So that, if a man who is a commercial traveler or railroad employee, or a mariner, or engaged in any other occupation which carries him from home on registration day, having previously made his declaration, finds that the condition is what he anticipates, he may supplement his personal appearance by the written statement.

Now, it seems to me, Mr. President, that this is a very happy solution of a difficult question, and that it should command the support of all the members of this Convention, because after all election laws and registration laws are not designed for the purpose of preventing voters otherwise qualified from voting, but to prevent fraudulent voting, and if we have secured, as it seems to me we have by this measure, a means of preventing a fraud on the Election Law, by an absentee registration, it appears to me to be our plain