Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 1.djvu/14

6 and, when applied to voters, unless there is a system of registration described by act of congress as such, and applied by the act as the only registration of voters under the law, it is any list, or register, or schedule containing names, the being on which lists, registers, or schedules constitutes a prerequisite to voting. Any other construction would utterly defeat the purpose and intent of congress.

It is manifest that, under the construction contended for by the objectors, any state having in substance such a registration of voters could avoid the operation of the act by altering the name of the fact of registration, or altering the state laws in such a manner as to create a system of registration different from that contemplated by the act of congress, as likely to be most prevalent in the majority of the states. The registration of voters must be widely variant in different states of the Union, and because there are some acts which, under our system, supervisors may not be able to perform, but which, in the contemplation of congress, might be performed in some other states, it does not follow that the former states have no such registration of voters as was contemplated by the act of congress. Is there fit and sufficient subject-matter for this act to work upon, is the pertinent question, and not — have we such a system of registration in ail particulars as congress contemplated might exist in some of the states? The constitutional provision in reference to voting is in these words:

Art. 4. And in such elections every free white male citizen of the age of 21 years or upwards, having resided in the state one year next before the election, and the last month thereof in the county where he offers to vote, and having, within two years next before the election, paid a county tax which shall have been assessed at least six months before the election, shall enjoy the right of an elector; and every free white male citizen of the age of 21 years, and under the age of 22 years, having resided as aforesaid, shall be entitled to vote without payment of any tax.

The laws of the state governing the duties of assessors and the levy court are to be found under the titles "Levy Court," on page 60 and following, and of "Assessors," on page 78 and