On the one hand it is argued that men and women who have never had the advantages of a grammar school education may nevertheless be good, patriotic citizens, and indeed may be better informed upon questions of government and politics than some who have had far greater educational advantages. People are not required to read and write before they are permitted to own property or compelled to pay taxes. Men who could neither read nor write were drafted to serve in the army during the war. If, then, we compel illiterate persons to perform the duties of citizenship, ought we not to grant its privileges to them as well? But there is something to be said on the other side of this question. Bear in mind that we provide free public elementary education for everyone in the United States. The privilege of learning to read and write is not the privilege of a single class; it is within the reach of everyone. We no longer allow aliens to enter the United States unless they can read and write, nor can any illiterate person become naturalized. Under these circumstances is it unreasonable to require an elementary educational test for voting? It may be true that persons who are unable to read are able to mark a certain type of ballot without spoiling it, but they can hardly hope to exercise an intelligent choice as among individual candidates on the ballot; they are unable to use any ballot which does not arrange the names of candidates in straight party columns and they cannot vote upon referendum questions except by mere guess-work. If we are regularly going to submit questions to the voters at the polls for their decision, should not the voting lists be confined to those who are at least able to read the questions?
Tax-Paying Qualifications for Voting.—In a few states the male suffrage is restricted to persons who have been assessed for a poll tax. Massachusetts has such a provision and enforces it strictly. Some Southern states also impose this qualification, partly, no doubt, because it is effective in debarring large numbers of colored men who are remiss in paying their annual poll taxes. There is a difference, of course, between a taxpaying qualification and a property qualification. Many people pay taxes, income and poll taxes, for example, without owning any property. Nowhere in the United States is the ownership of property a requirement for voting at national elections.
The requirements vary from state to state.
These, then, are the general and special qualifications. It will be observed that since each state prescribes its own requirements, no two of them establish the same qualifications, or, if they do, it is merely by accident. It is not strictly true that every adult citizen of the United States has the privilege of voting; but it is approximately true. Those who are excluded by the residence, educational, or tax paying qualifications (apart from colored citizens in the Southern states) form a relatively small fraction of the total adult citizenship, probably less than ten per cent.[[37]]
The registrars of voters.
How Voters are Registered.—In order to obtain a ballot on election day it is necessary that one’s name shall be on the voters’ list. This list is prepared by officials designated for this purpose in every community or district. These officials are commonly known as registrars of voters. Whoever desires to be enrolled must appear before these registrars and usually must make a sworn statement as to age, citizenship, residence, and other qualifications. If there is an educational test, it is applied by the registrars. The printed lists of enrolled voters are then posted for public inspection.[[38]] In some states a new voters’ list is compiled every year, and it thus becomes necessary for everyone to register annually. In others it is the practice to keep a voter’s name on the list so long as he continues to pay poll taxes.[[39]] But in any case the only way a voter can be sure of having his name on the list at every election is to give this matter his personal attention. In the eyes of the law voting is a privilege, not a right, and the voter is responsible for seeing that he obtains his privilege.
Nominations
The chief purpose of nominations.
Why Nominations are Essential.—The choice of elective public officials usually involves two steps—the nomination and the election. Nominations may be made, and they are sometimes made, by a caucus or by a convention of delegates. More often, however, they are made by the voters at a preliminary election or primary. But the question may fairly be asked: Why have nominations at all? Why not give the voters blank ballots and let them write in whatever names they please? Apart from the fact that many voters (in states which impose no educational test) would not be able to write, there is the objection that so many different persons would be voted for that no one would have anything like a majority. In order to ensure that those who are elected will represent the choice of a substantial body of the voters and if possible an actual majority, it is desirable that there be some way of eliminating all but the stronger candidates. That is why we provide for formal nominations.
History of Nominating Methods.—During the past hundred years or more we have tried a variety of nominating methods. First came the caucus, sometimes a gathering of legislators and sometimes of voters, brought together to select a candidate. |The convention method.| The caucus gave place, in time, to the convention, which is a body of delegates chosen by the voters of each locality. To this day the convention remains the mechanism by which nominations are in some cases made. But the convention method, for a variety of reasons, did not prove satisfactory and it has been replaced, throughout the greater portion of the United States, by the system of nomination at a primary election.