In re Polling Lists

• Decision Date: 13 April 1881
• Parties: IN RE THE POLLING LISTS.
• Court: Rhode Island Supreme Court

13 R.I. 729

IN RE THE POLLING LISTS.

Supreme Court of Rhode Island.

April 13, 1881

Subject to the exceptions contained in Gen. Stat. R.I. cap 9, § 1, the vote of a person whose name does not appear on the list of voters is to be rejected by the moderator or warden, although such person may be a qualified voter under article 2, section 1, of the Constitution of Rhode Island.

Gen Stat. R.I. cap. 9, § 1, which, subject to certain exceptions rejects the votes of all persons whose names are not on the voting lists, is constitutional and valid.

THE Constitution of the State of Rhode Island, of November, 1842 article 2, section 1, provides:

" Every male citizen of the United States, of the age of twenty-one years, who has had his residence and home in this State for one year, and in the town or city in which he may claim a right to vote, six months next preceding the time of voting, and who is really and truly possessed in his own right of real estate in such town or city of the value of one hundred and thirty-four dollars over and above all incumbrances, or which shall rent for seven dollars per annum over and above any rent reserved or the interest of any incumbrances thereon, being an estate in fee-simple, fee-tail, for the life of any person, or an estate in reversion or remainder, which qualifies no other person to vote, the conveyance of which estate, if by deed, shall have been recorded at least ninety days, shall thereafter have a right to vote in the election of all civil officers, and on all questions in all legal town or ward meetings, so long as he continues so qualified. And if any person hereinbefore described shall own any such estate within this State out of the town or city in which he resides, he shall have a right to vote in the election of all general officers and members of the General Assembly in the town or city in which he shall have had his residence and home for the term of six months next preceding the election, upon producing a certificate from the clerk of the town or city in which his estate lies, bearing date within ten days of the time of his voting, setting forth that such person has a sufficient estate therein to qualify him as a voter; and that the deed, if any, has been recorded ninety days."

And article 2, section 6, provides:

" The General Assembly shall have full power to provide for a registry of voters, to prescribe the manner of conducting the elections, the form of certificates, the nature of the evidence to be required in case of a dispute as to the right of any person to vote, and generally to enact all laws necessary to carry this article into effect, and to prevent abuse, corruption, and fraud in voting."

The General Statutes of Rhode Island, chapter 9, section 1, provide:

" The moderator or warden of any town, ward, or district meeting, shall receive the votes of all persons whose names are upon the list of voters, certified and delivered to him by the town clerk, and shall reject the votes of all persons claiming to vote, whose names are not on said list; provided, that if any voter whose name is upon any ward list in the cities of Providence or Newport, or upon any district list in any town, shall have removed to another ward or district, after the making out of the ward or district list, or if the name of any voter shall have been placed upon the wrong ward or district list, every such voter shall be admitted to vote in the ward or district in which he resides, upon

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