State ex rel. Lamar v. Dillon

Citations

• 32 Fla. 545

Syllabus

<p>1. The right to vote is not an inherent or absolute right generally-reserved in bills of rights, but its possession is dependent upon constitutional or statutory grant. Subject to the limitations contained in the Federal Constitution such right is under the control of the sovereign power of the State, and where the Constitution has conferred the right, and prescribed the qualifications of electors, the Legislature can not change or add to them in any way; but where the Constitution does not confer the right to vote or prescribe the qualifications of voters, it is competent for the Legislature, as the representative of the lawmaking power of the State, to do so.</p> <p>2. Section one of Article six of the Constitution of 1885, prescribing the qualifications of electors at all elections under it, does not apply to elections for municipal officers in this State, but such elections are subject to statutory regulation, and it is competent for the Legislature to prescribe the qualifications of voters at the same.</p> <p>8. The provision in the third Section of Chapter 4801 of the laws of of 1898 (being “An act to fix the number and provide for the election of the municixial officers of the city of Jacksonville, a municipal corporation existing in Duval county, Florida, and to prescribe their terms of office, and regulate their compensation),” that those persons who, at the time of the holding of any city election, are residents of the city, and who, at the time of the general State election held next preceding, were' qualified electors of any of the election districts within said city, shall constitute the qualified electors of said city authorized to vote at such city election, is not in conflict with the general provisions of the criminal law disqualifying persons convicted of certain crimes from voting at any election, and the two can and must be construed in harmony with each other.</p> <p>4. The Legislature having the right to prescribe the qualifications of. vote