| Law Name | Digges Amendment of 1910-11 |
|---|---|
| Date Passed | April 11th, 1910 |
| State | Maryland |
| Classification | bill |
| Description | "AN ACT to propose an amendment to Article 1, of the Constitution of this State, by adding thereto a new section, to be known as Section 8, to follow Section 7, and to provide for the submission of said amendment to the qualified voters or this State for adoption or rejection. SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland (three-fifths of all members of each of the two houses concurring), That the following section be and the same is hereby proposed as an amendment to Article 1, of the Constitution of this State, which said section, if adopted by the qualified voters of this State, shall stand as an additional section to said Article 1, to be known as Section 8, to follow Section 7, of said Article: SEC. 8. All State and municipal elections shall be conducted by the system commonly known as the Australian ballot system, and it shall be the duty of the General Assembly to provide by law for a form of ballot, uniform throughout the State, for use at all State elections in this State, and to provide that on said ballot, after the name of each candidate thereon who may have been duly nominated as the candidate of any political party or organization, there shall be printed the legal name of said party or organization. Equal representation of the minority party among the judges and clerks of election, registrars, or other officers performing similar functions, shall not be abolished by the General Assembly unless by a vote of four-Afths of all the members of each house. The right to be registered as a qualified voter and the right to vote at any State or municipal election in this State shall be limited to the following persons: first, every male white citizen not disqualified by the Second or Third Section of this Article possessing the qualifications as to age and residence mentioned in Section 1 of this Article; second, every other male citizen not disqualified by the Second or Third Sections of this Article possessing the qualifications as to age and residence mentioned in Section 1 of this Article, who at the time of his application for registration is the bona-fide owner of real or personal property, or both, in an amount of not less than five hundred dollars, is assessed therefor on the tax books of the City of Baltimore or of one of the counties of this State, has been such owner and so assessed for two years next preceding his application for regis-tration, shall have paid and shall produce receipts for the taxes on said property for said two years, and shall at the time of his application make affidavit before the officers of registration that he is the bona-fide owner of the property so assessed to him, and that he has been such owner for two years next preceding his application. If any persons other than those herein mentioned shall be or become legally entitled to be registered as voters at State elections in this State, then this section shall be null and void, and the General Assembly shall possess the same powers as if this section had never been adopted, and the laws of this State, including the local laws applicable to certain counties thereot, relating to the form of ballot to be used at elections, in force on the first day of July in the year nineteen hundred and ten, shall revive or continue in force until altered by the General Assembly, notwithstanding any acts to the contrary which may have been passed while the terms of this section shall have been in force or while the General Assembly shall have belived or assumed the provisions of this section to be valid. Sec. 2. And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the aforesaid section hereby proposed as an amendment to the Constitution shall be, at the next general election held in this State, submitted to the legal and qualified voters thereof for their adoption or rejection in pursuance of the directions contained in Article 14 of the Constitution of this State, and at the said general election the vote on the said proposed amendment to the Constitution shall be by ballot, and upon each ballot shall be printed the words, "For Constitutional Amendment" and "Against Constitutional Amendment," as now provided by law, and immediately after said election due return shall be made to the Governor of the vote for and against said proposed amendment as directed by said Fourteenth Article of the Constitution." |
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[Author (if known)], Voting Rights Laws and Legislation in Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, 1910, Enduring Connections: Exploring Delmarva’s Black History, Nabb Research Center, Salisbury University.
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