Page:EB1911 - Volume 26.djvu/725

Rh governed under the constitution of 1876, with amendments of 1879, 1883, 1890, 1891, 1897, 1904 and 1906. All male citizens over twenty-one years of age and resident in the state for one year and in the county or election precinct for six months immediately preceding election (except paupers, idiots, lunatics, felons, United States soldiers, marines and seamen, and persons who have taken part, either as principal or second, in fighting a duel or in sending a challenge) have the right of suffrage. The constitution originally forbade the registration of voters, but an amendment of 1891 permits it in cities having a population of ten thousand or more, and the Australian ballot system was adopted in such cities by an act of the twenty-second legislature in 1892. An amendment to the constitution may be proposed by a two-thirds vote of all members elected to each house of the legislature, and is adopted if it is approved by a majority of the popular vote on the amendment.