Excerpt from Report of the Committee on Elections in the Contested Election Case of Thomas A. Spence, Vs; John R. Franklin The Committee on Elections, to which was referred the petition of Thomas A. Spence, contesting the election of John R. Franklin, as Circuit Judge of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit of Maryland, and the memorial of the said John R. Franklin in response thereto, having deliberately con sidered the petition and memorial, so referred, and the testimony submitted by the petitioner and memorialist to support their several averments, respectfully report: That, the Committee have entered upon the matter referred to it, deeply impressed with its importance. The individual interests of the parties to this proceeding, great as they may be, when we consider the dignity and importance of the office depencling'upon its decision, sink into insignificance, when compared with the public interests involved in the charges made by the petitioner: That the laws of the State have been wantonly and recklessly disregarded and set at defiance by its public officers, - the purity and sanctity of the ballot-box polluted, and the right of the majority of the legal voters to have their choice expressed and enforced, outraged. The petitioner contests the election of Mr. Franklin on two grounds. In the first place, because, at the time of the said election, Mr. Franklin was disqualified to hold the office of Circuit Judge, - under the fourth section of article first of the Constitution and, in the second place, that the Judges of Election in the fifth, eighth, tenth and fifteenth Election Districts of Somerset County illegally received, counted and returned, in their certificates, a large number of illegal votes which were polled for Mr. Franklin, whereby it was made to appear that Mv. Franklin received the largest number of votes and was elected, when the fact is that he, the petitioner, received the largest number of. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Minority Report of the Committee on Elections in the Contested Election Case of Thomas A. Spence, Vs; John R. Franklin As a general principle it is not true that the right to vote and the right to hold office are cc-relative. Numbers of per sons hold office in this country who have no right to vote as women, aliens and minors - and numbers have the right to vote for certain offices who are not eligible to fill them. Thus all voters can cast their ballots for Governor, Judges, but only those who have attained a certain age are eli gible to be elected to them. There are numbers of persons holding offices under the Constitution and Laws of Maryland who are neither voters nor residents of the State - as com missioners to take acknowledgments and State agents re siding abroad. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.