Sproule v. Fredericks

Citations

• 69 Miss. 898

Syllabus

<p>1. Constitution 1890. Enactment. Ratification not necessary.</p> <p>The convention assembled in this state pursuant to the act of 1890 (Laws, p. 53), by which it was called “to revise or amend the present constitution, or enact a new constitution, ’’represented the sovereignty of the state, and ratification by the people of the constitution enacted by it, was not necessary to its validity.</p> <p>2. Constitutional Law. Suffrage. State regulation. Sovereignty. Act of Qongress.</p> <p>No limitation upon the right of this state to prescribe qualifications for suffrage exists, except that contained in the constitution of the United States and its amendments, which prohibit discrimination on account of race, color or previous condition of servitude. The sovereignty of the state, in this respect, is not affected by the act of congress approved February 23, 1870, which, in re-admitting Mississippi to representation in congress, assumed to make it conditional upon the state’s preserving the then existing qualifications for suffrage.</p> <p>3. Contested. Election. Evidence. Illegal votes. Fraud.</p> <p>In a proceeding- to contest the election to a county office, it is sufficient for the contestant to allege and show that he was deprived of his rightful majority by the fraudulent practices of the managers at a certain precinct in returning a greater number of votes than were actually cast, and receiving votes of persons not qualified electors under the constitution, and votes which had been marked and furnished to voters by others in disregard of the constitution.</p> <p>4. Contested Election. Evidence of fraud. Constitution of 1890.</p> <p>Without regard to whether the provisions of the constitution of 1890, and its ordinance regulating elections, are mandatory or directory, fraudulent conduct, whereby legal votes are received and counted, changing the result oi the election, may always be shown.</p>