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DELEGATE WHITE: I yield the re-
mainder of the time to Delegate Herbert
Chabot.
THE CHAIRMAN: Delegate Chabot.
DELEGATE CHABOT: Mr. Chairman,
it was pointed out that the same argu-
ments that are made here for municipali-
ties can be just as logically made for
counties and the comment by Delegate Fox
that voting in the county election means
that you must be permitted to vote for ad-
ditional delegates for the House of Dele-
gates and you must be permitted to get
additional votes for the governor, of course
does not apply because if the elections are
held the same day, as a minority report
which we are going to get later on would
suggest, or on different years, as this same
Committee has reported, the voting ma-
chines can be so arranged that the person
who is only qualified to vote for the county
election would be limited to voting for
those offices. Consequently, if we accept the
principle for the municipalities, there is no
logical reason for rejecting it for the
counties.
Let me say also with regard to the state-
ment from the Attorney General's office,
the statement was prepared by Edward L.
Blanton, Jr. I know him well. He was at
one time also a tax lawyer. Nevertheless
if his opinion on this matter is to be con-
sidered, and I respectfully sug-gest that he
was wrong, he was considering a Supreme
Court opinion which was a one-paragraph
per curia affirmance in 1952 immediately
after Baker v. Carr, when the Supreme
Court and all the courts were under great
pressure to decide how far the one man,
one vote principle went, and the courts
were trying to find the way that the legis-
lature could be given as much power as
possible without the courts interfering.
Let us look at the 19G6 opinion in which
the Supreme Court struck down the Vir-
ginia poll tax. They did not do it on the
basis that the poll tax operated to dis-
criminate against the Negro, which they
very well could have done based on the
history of the introduction of the poll tax
in that state. They said rather "Voter
qualifications have no relation to wealth
nor to paying this or any other tax. The
principle that denies the state the right to
dilute the citizen's vote on account of the
economic status or such other factors by
analogy bars a system which excludes
those unable to pay a fee to vote or fail
to pay."
Mr. Chairman, the Committee's Report
would permit the municipality to say that
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the only non-residents who can vote are
those who own taxable properties within its
limit. This can be set at $100 or $1 or
$1000.
I suggest that we are by this language
permitting municipalities to discriminate
among non-residents on account of their
wealth, on account of their property.
We have said that this is improper for
all the other elections that we deal with
from every level of government. We should
say it is improper here too.
THE CHAIRMAN: The Chair recog-
nizes Delegate Rybczynski.
DELEGATE RYBCZYNSKI: Mr. Chair-
man, the majority rests on the experience
of the communities that have this pro-
vision and take advantage of it, and on
the very excellent statements provided by
Delegates Grant, Pascal and Fox.
THE CHAIRMAN: Now we have a
period of uncontrolled but limited debate.
Does any delegate desire to speak in
favor of the amendment?
Delegate Boileau.
DELEGATE BOILEAU: In American
politics one of the most insidious crimes
that can be permitted anywhere is to buy
a vote, and if section 2 is adopted, in es-
sence you allow certain citizens of this
State the right to buy a vote in municipal
elections.
THE CHAIRMAN: Does any delegate
desire to speak in opposition?
Delegate Della.
DELEGATE DELLA: Mr. Chairman
and fellow delegates, I am not interested in
whether we have property rights in Ocean
City or whether Ocean City gives to its
non-residents the right to vote.
I am interested though that the citizens
of Ocean City have selected this form of
government. I think they have a right to
select whatever form of government they
want as long as they do not discriminate.
I have not heard one word of discrimina-
tion on this floor. I think that is the ques-
tion. Those people in Ocean City have a
right to govern themselves as they see fit
as long as there is no fraud.
We are not talking about Hague or
Johnny Kenny up in Hudson County. We
are talking about Ocean City, mainly, and
how that power was granted to Ocean City
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