ARTICLE II. RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE. § 1. Who are and who are not electors. § 2. Privileges of electors. § 2. Primary elections. § 3. Militia duty, privilege of electors. § 6. Voting machines. Who are and who are not electors. Section 1. Every native citizen of the United States, every person who shall have acquired the rights of citizenship under or by virtue of the treaty of Queretaro, and every naturalized citizen thereof, who shall have become such ninety days prior to any election, of the age of twentyone years, who shall have been resident of the state one year next preceding the election, and of the county in which he or she claims his or her vote ninety days, and in the election precinct thirty days, shall be entitled to vote at all elections which are now or may hereafter be authorized by law; provided, no native of China, no idiot, no insane person, no person convicted of any infamous crime, no person hereafter convicted of the embezzlement or misappropriation of public money, and no person who shall not be able to read the Constitution in the English language and write his or her name, shall ever exercise the privileges of an elector in this state; provided, that the provisions of this amendment relative to an educational qualification shall not apply to any person prevented by a physical disability from complying with its requisitions, nor to any person who now has the right to vote, nor to any person who shall be sixty years of age and upwards at the time this amendment shall take effect. (Amendment approved October 10, 1911.) [AMENDMENT OF 1894.] Section 1. Every native male citizen of the United States, every male person who shall have acquired the right of citizenship under or by virtue of the treaty of Queretaro, and every male naturalized citizen thereof, who shall have become such ninety days prior to any election, of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been resident of the state one year next preceding the elec tion, and of the county in which he claims his vote ninety days, and in the election precinct thirty days, shall be entitled to vote at all elections which are now or may hereafter be authorized by law; provided, no native of China, no idiot, no insane person, no person convicted of any infamous crime, no person hereafter convicted of the embezzlement or misappropriation of public money, and no person who shall not be able to read the Constitution in the English language and write his name, shall ever exercise the privileges of an elector in this state; provided, that the provisions of this amendment relative to an educational qualification shall not apply to any person prevented by a physical disability from complying with its requisitions, nor to any person who has the right to vote, nor to any person who shall be sixty years of age and upwards at the time this amendment shall take effect. (Amendment adopted November 6, 1894.) [ORIGINAL SECTION.] Section 1. Every native male citizen of the United States, every male person who shall have acquired the rights of citizenship under or by virtue of the treaty of Queretaro, and every male naturalized citizen thereof, who shall have become such ninety days prior to any election, of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident of the state one year next preceding the election, and of the county in which he claims his vote ninety days, and in the election precinct thirty days, shall be entitled to vote at all elections which are now or may hereafter be authorized by law; provided, no native of China, no idiot, insane person, or person convicted of any infamous crime, and no person hereafter convicted of the embezzlement or misappropriation of public money, shall ever exercise the privileges of an elector in this state. RIGHT OF SUFFRAGE.—When Congress admitted California as a state, the constituent members of the state, in their aggregate capacity, became vested with the sovereign powers of government "according to the principles of the Constitution," and had the right to prescribe the qualifications of electors. (People v. De la Guerra, 40 Cal. 311.) It was no violation of the ninth article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that the qualifications of electors, as prescribed in the Constitution of California, were such as to exclude some of the inhabitants from certain political rights. (People v. De la Guerra, 40 Cal. 311.) The elective franchise is not one of the privileges of citizens secured by the fourteenth amendment, nor is the power of the state to determine the class of inhabitants who may vote within her limits curtailed by that amendment; and the only limitation contained in the fifteenth amendment is that the state cannot discriminate on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude; but the power of exclusion upon all other grounds, including that of sex, remains intact. (Van Valkenburg v. Brown, 43 Cal. 43, 13 Am. Rep. 136.) The legislature cannot add any essential to the constitutional definition of an elector. (Bergevin v. Curtz, 127 Cal. 86, 59 Pac. 312.) The courts of equity have power to see that the constitutional rights of suffrage are enjoyed. (Cerini v. De Long, 7 Cal. App. 398, 94 Pac. 582.) A person may be an elector, although not a registered voter. (Bergevin v. Curtz, 127 Cal. 86, 59 Pac. 312.) A woman who has lost her United States citizenship by marrying an alien is not entitled to vote. (Mackenzie v. Hare, 165 Cal. 776, Ann. Cas. 1915B, 261, 134 Pac. 713; affirmed in Mackenzie v. Hare, 239 U. S. 299.) Registration is not a qualification of an elector, and cannot add to the qualifications fixed by the Constitution; but it is to be regarded as a reasonable regulation by the legislature for the purpose of ascertaining who are qualified electors in order to prevent illegal voting. (Bergevin v. Curtz, 127 Cal. 86, 59 Pac. 312.) Registration of voters. See 9 R. C. L., §§ 52–55, pp. 1036-1040. A primary election is an election "authorized by law," within the meaning of this section, and the provisions thereof, defining the qualifications of electors, are controlling in determining the right to vote at such elections, and such right can neither be enlarged nor curtailed by the legislature. (Spier v. Baker, 120 Cal. 370, 41 L. R. A. 196, 52 Pac. 659.) A provision of the Primary Election Law that all native-born citizens, who since the last general election have become of legal age, and who have been legal residents of the county thirty days prior to the election, as well as all citizens who have become such by naturalization since the last general election, and who have been residents as aforesaid, shall be entitled to vote, is an enlargement of the constitutional right of suffrage and void. (Spier v. Baker, 120 Cal. 370, 41 L. R. A. 196, 52 Pac. 659.) A provision of the Primary Election Law, that no person shall vote at primary elections whose name does not appear upon the last great register, or supplements thereto, curtails the right of suffrage, and is void. (Spier v. Baker, 120 Cal. 370, 41 L. R. A. 196, 52 Pac. 659.) This section does not apply to a voter in a reclamation district. (People v. Reclamation Dist. No. 551, 117 Cal. 114, 48 Pac. 1016.) The act to change the boundary line between Fresno and Kings county is not unconstitutional because it prescribes different qualifications for the electors who shall be entitled to vote at the election therein provided for than are prescribed by this section. (Wheeler v. Herbert, 152 Cal. 224, 92 Pac. 353.) The provision of the Political Code that, when a voter erases the name of a candidate without substituting another, the vote must be counted for the candidate whose name is erased, unless the words "no vote" are written after the name erased, is not unconstitutional, as prescribing an educational qualification for the voter, or destroying the secrecy of the ballot. (Rutledge v. Crawford, 91 Cal. 526, 25 Am. St. Rep. 212, 13 L. R. A. 761, 27 Pac. 779.) A person born in a foreign state, whose father was once a citizen of the United States, but renounced his allegiance before the birth of such person, is not a citizen of the United States. (Browne v. Dexter, 66 Cal. 39, 4 Pac. 913.) The legislature has no power to authorize electors to give their votes at any place outside of the county or district in which they have had a legal residence for thirty days previous to the election. (Bourland v. Hildreth, 26 Cal. 161.) An act providing for taking the votes of the electors of the state, who are in the military service of the United States, outside of the county of their legal residence, to be returned to the secretary of state, and counted in the counties of the legal residence of the electors, is void. (Bourland v. Hildreth, 26 Cal. 161; Day v. Jones, 31 Cal. 261.) The Constitution does not vest in any person the right to sign a petition for the recall of an officer. (Davenport v. Los Angeles, 146 Cal. 508, 80 Pac. 684.) Power of legislature to define qualifications of voters. See note, 7 Ann. Cas. 665; 9 R. C. L., § 6, p. 982, § 41, p. 1024. What constitutes conviction of crime within constitutional provision denying right to vote to convicted person. See note, 15 Ann. Cas. 103. Right of suffrage. See 9 R. C. L., §§ 4-6, pp. 979-983. Right to vote and citizenship. See 9 R. C. L., § 40, p. 1023. Privileges of electors. Sec. 2. Electors shall in all cases, except treason, felony, or breach of the peace, be privileged from arrest on the days of election, during their attendance at such election, going to and returning therefrom. Civil liability for preventing exercise of right to vote. See note, 20 Ann. Cas. 1008. Primary election. Sec. 22. The legislature shall have the power to enact laws relative to the election of delegates to conventions of political parties; and the legislature shall enact laws providing for the direct nomination of candidates for public office, by electors, political parties, or organizations of electors. without conventions, at elections to be known and designated as primary elections; also to determine the tests and conditions upon which electors, political parties, or organizations of electors may participate in any such primary election. It shall also be lawful for the legislature to prescribe that any such primary election shall be mandatory and obligatory. The legislature shall also have the power to establish the rates of compensation for primary election offi Constitution-13 cers serving at such primary elections in any city, or city and county, or county, or other subdivision of a designated population, without making such compensation uniform, and for such purpose such law may declare the population. of any city, city and county, county or political subdivision. Provided, however, that until the legislature shall enact a direct primary election law under the provisions of this section, the present primary election law shall remain in force and effect. (Amendment adopted November 3, 1908.) [AMENDMENT OF 1900.] Sec. 22. The legislature shall have the power to enact laws relative to the election of delegates to conventions of political parties at elections known and designated as primary elections. Also to determine the tests and conditions upon which electors, political parties, or organizations of voters, may participate in any such primary election, which tests or conditions may be different from the tests and conditions required and permitted at other elections authorized by law; or the legislature may delegate the power to determine such tests or conditions, at primary elections, to the various political parties participating therein. It shall also be lawful for the legislature to prescribe that any such primary election law shall be obligatory and mandatory in any city, or any city and county, or in any county, or in any political subdivision, of a designated population, and that such law shall be optional in any city, city and county, county, or political subdivision of a lesser population, and for such purpose such law may declare the population of any city, city and county, county, or political subdivision, and may also provide what, if any, compensation primary election officers in defined places or political subdivisions may receive, without making compensation either general or uniform. (Amendment adopted November 6, 1900.) PRIMARY ELECTIONS.—Prior to the adoption of this amendment, three acts regulating primary elections were passed by the legislature, each of which was held invalid by the supreme court. 1. Act of 1895.-The first act on the subject was held invalid because it only applied to counties of the first and second class, and was therefore local and special. (Marsh v. Hanly, 111 Cal. 368, 43 Pac. 975.) 2. Act of 1897.-The second act on the subject was held invalid on the following grounds: (a) because it enlarged the right of suffrage; (b) because it restricted the right of suffrage; (c) because certain portions of it were not expressed in the title of the act; (d) because it was special, in that it discriminated in favor of and against certain classes and individuals. (Spier v. Baker, 120 Cal. 370, 41 L. R. A. 196, 52 Pac. 659.) 3. Act of 1899.-The third act on the subject was held invalid because it permitted members of one political party or of no party to vote for delegates to the party convention of another party, and thus |
