Green v. Mills

• Decision Date: 11 June 1895
• Docket Number: 136.
• Citation: 69 F. 852
• Parties: GREEN v. MILLS.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

69 F. 852

GREEN v. MILLS.

No. 136.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

June 11, 1895

This was a bill of complaint filed in the circuit court of the United States for the district of South Carolina April 19 1895, by Lawrence P. Mills, described as 'a citizen of the state of South Carolina and of the United States,' against W. Briggs Green, described as 'a citizen of said state and the United States,' and exhibited on behalf of complainant and all other citizens of the county of Richland in the state of South Carolina, circumstanced like himself and too numerous to be made parties, alleging that complainant was 21 years of age February 4, 1895; that he is a resident of ward 4, precinct of Columbia, in said county and state; that he is a male citizen of the United States that he has resided in the state of South Carolina for more than one year preceding the last general election in that state, and in the county of Richland for more than 60 days prior to the said general election; that complainant is an elector of the state of South Carolina, possessing all the qualifications of an elector of the most numerous branch of the state legislature, provided by the state constitution, and that he is subject to none of the disqualifications set forth in said constitution and laws of the United States, duly qualified to vote at all federal and state elections held in said ward, county, and state.

The bill then set forth section 90 of the General Statutes of South Carolina of 1882, as follows: 'All electors of the state shall be registered as hereinafter provided; and no person shall be allowed to vote at any election hereafter to be held unless registered as hereinafter required. ' And section 132 of the Revised Statutes of South Carolina of 1893 to the same effect: 'All electors of this state shall be registered, and no person shall be allowed to vote at any election hereafter to be held unless he shall have heretofore registered in conformity with the requirements of chapter 7 of the General Statutes of 1882, and acts amendatory thereof, or shall be registered as herein required. ' And also section 94 of the General Statutes of 1882, providing: 'When the said registration (in certain books to be provided him and made in the manner provided for in section 93) shall have been completed the books shall be closed and not reopened for registration except for the purposes and as hereinafter mentioned until after the general election for state officers. After the said next general election the books shall be opened for the registration of such persons as shall thereafter become entitled to register on the first Monday in each month to and until the first Monday in July, inclusive, preceding the following general election, upon which last named day the same shall be closed and not reopened for registration until after the said general election, and ever after the said books shall be opened for the registration of such electors, and on the days above mentioned, until the first day of July preceding a general election, when the same shall be closed as aforesaid until the said general election shall have taken place. ' And in section 137 of the said Revised Statutes of 1893 it is provided: 'After every general election the registration books shall be opened for registration of such persons as shall thereafter become entitled to register for registration of such persons as shall thereafter become entitled to register on the first Monday in each month until the first day of July preceding a general election, when the same shall be closed until such election shall have taken place. ' And also section 97 of the General Statutes of 1882, in the following words: 'Any person coming of age and becoming qualified as an elector may appear before the supervisor of registration on any day on which the books are opened as aforesaid and take oath as to his age and qualification, as hereinbefore provided, and if the supervisor find him qualified he shall enter his name upon the registration book of the precinct wherein he resides.'

It was further alleged 'that, in any by the requirements of said registration enactments of the government of the state of South Carolina, it is provided that the respective supervisors of registration in the several counties shall issue to the voter when registered a certificate of registration, and that said voter shall present the same at the polls to the managers of election, and that no one shall be allowed to vote at any election to be held in the said state unless his certificate of registration as aforesaid is exhibited at the time and in the manner aforesaid. And it is further required, in and by the said alleged enactments, that, in case a voter or elector shall remove from one county to another in said state, or from one precinct to another in the same county, or from one residence to another in the same precinct, he shall obtain a transfer and a renewal certificate. And it is further provided, in said enactments, that, in the event an elector shall lose his said certificate of registration, he must obtain a renewal thereof upon furnishing evidence satisfactory to the registrar of the said county wherein he resides that his said certificate has been mislaid or lost, and that the same has not been wilfully or intentionally disposed of. ' And it was averred 'that, by the provisions and requirement of said enactments, the elector failing for any reason to comply with any of the provisions aforesaid is denied the right of suffrage both in federal and state elections,' and 'that the provisions of the said enactments fixing the time for registration and the closing of the books for that purpose on the 1st day of July preceding every election, and the many and divers provisions, requirements, and conditions set out in the various and sundry sections of said alleged act, were intended to, and that they in effect do, abridge, impede, and destroy the suffrage of the citizen both of the state and of the United States.'

The bill further averred the passage on the 24th day of December, 1894, by the government of the state of South Carolina of an act to provide for calling a constitutional convention, by section 4 of which it was declared who should be entitled to vote for delegates to the said constitutional convention; and in addition to the qualifications prescribed for electors by the constitution of the state of South Carolina, a further qualification was provided, to wit, that the elector be 'duly registered as now required by law, or who, having been entitled to register as a voter at the time of the general registration of electors in the state which took place in the year of our Lord 1882, or at any time subsequent thereto, failed to register at such time required by law, or who has become a citizen of this state and who shall register as hereinafter provided in such cases. ' Sections 6 and 7 of this act were set forth as follows: 'That on the first Monday of March, in the year of our Lord 1895, the supervisor of registration of each county shall, at the county seat thereof, open his books of registration, and shall hold the same open for ten consecutive calendar days thereafter, except Sundays, between the hours of 10 o'clock in the forenoon and 4 o'clock in the afternoon, except Charleston, Beaufort, and Richland counties, where the said books shall be kept open from 10 o'clock in the forenoon to 6 o'clock in the afternoon, during which time any elector then or theretofore at any time entitled to register as a qualified voter, or who has become a citizen of this state, shall be, during the time herein fixed by law for registration, entitled to register as such, as hereinafter provided; and any elector having been heretofore duly registered, or having since changed his residence, or having lost his certificate, shall be entitled to have the same transferred or renewed, as now provided by law. ' 'Any elector who shall have been entitled to register at the general registration in the year of our Lord 1882, or at any time subsequent thereto, and who failed to register at such time as required by law, and who shall make application under oath in accordance with the printed form to be prepared by the attorney general, setting forth in each case the fact, to wit: The full name, age, occupation and residence of the applicant at the time of the said general registration, or at any time thereafter, when the said applicant became entitled to register, and the place or places of his residence since the time he became entitled to register, which affidavit shall be supported by the affidavits of two reputable citizens who were each of the age of 21 years on the 13th day of June, A.D. 1882, or at the time the said applicant became entitled thereafter to register, or any elector who has become a citizen of this state, by moving into the same and his place of residence since living in the state and who shall make application under oath, stating the time of his moving into the state and his place of residence since living in the state, which application shall be supported by the affidavit of two reputable citizens, who were 21 years of age at the time the applicant became a resident of this state, such applicant shall be allowed to register as a voter and to have issued to him a certificate as a duly qualified elector in the manner and form now provided by law, and be entitled to vote at said election for delegates to said convention.'

The bill then charged that these sections so limited, abridged and qualified the privilege of registration that they resulted in a practical denial of the right to vote to those electors who, by the operation of the provisions of the General Statutes of 1882 and Revised Statutes of 1893, are...