be entitled to vote after six months residence in the election district, if otherwise qualified. (1) SEC. 242. The Legislature shall provide by law for the registration of all persons entitled to vote at any election, and all persons offering to register shall take the following oath or affirmation: "I, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I am twenty-one years old (or I will be before the next election in this county), and that I will have resided in this State two years, and -election district of county one year next preceding the ensuing election [or if it be stated in the oath that the person proposing to register is the minister of the gospel in charge of an organized church, then it will be sufficient to aver therein, two years residence in the State and six months in said election district] and am now in good faith a resident of the same, and that I am not disqualified by reason of having been convicted of any crime named in the Constitution of this State as a disqualification to be an elector; that I will truly answer all questions propounded to me concerning my antecedents so far as they relate to my right to vote, and also as to my residence before my citizenship in this district; that I will faithfully support the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Mis. sissippi, and will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. So help me God." In registering voters in cities and towns, not wholly in one election district, the name of such city or town may be substituted in the oath for the election district. Any wilful and corrupt false statement in said affidavit, or in answer to any material questions propounded, as herein authorized, shall be perjury. SEC. 244. On and after the first day of January, A. D., 1892, every elector shall, in addition to the foregoing qualifications, be able to read any section of the Constitution of this State; or shall be able to understand the same when read to him, or give a reasonable interpretation thereof. A new registration shall be made before the next ensuing e.ection after January the first, A. D., 1892. SEC. 245. Electors in municipal elections shall possess all the qualifications herein prescribed, and such additional qualifications as may be prescribed by law. SEC. 247. The Legislature shall enact laws to secure fairness in party pri. mary elections, conventions or other methods of naming party candidates. SEC. 249. No one shall be allowed to vote for members of the Legislature or other officers who has not been duly registered under the Constitution and laws of this State, by an officer of this State, legally authorized to register the voters thereof. And registration under the Constitution and laws of this (1) This specification and the oath prescribed in the succeeding section would seem to exclude every other religious teacher or preacher in charge of an organized religious body from this special privilege. State, by the proper officers of this State, is hereby declared to be an essential and necessary qualification to vote at any and all elections. SEC. 250. All qualified electors and no others shall be eligible to office, except as otherwise provided in this Constitution. SEC. 251. Electors shall not be registered within four months next before any election at which they may offer to vote; but appeals may be heard and determined and revision take place at any time prior to the election; and no person, who, in respect to age and residence, would become entitled to vote, within the said four months, shall be excluded from registration on account of his want of qualification at the time of registration. SEC. 253. The Legislature may, by a two-thirds vote of both Houses, of all members elected, restore the right of suffrage to any person disqualified by reason of crime; but the reasons therefore shall be spread upon the journals, and the vote shall be by yeas and nays. Annexation of Alaska. of California. of Florida. of Louisiana. of Texas. Appendix. Applicants for naturalization Office-holding in Australian ballot system. reform. Birth abroad-Citizenship by at a foreign port at sea... in the United States. Jurisdiction essential at on an American vessel overcomes parental is bility. Birthright of offspring of foreign parents. Birth-The bond of California-Electors in Office-holding in Carolina, North-Electors in Office-holding in South-Electors in. Office-holding in. Cession of Alaska. of Florida. of Louisiana. of Mexican territory Character qualification for citizenship. born abroad of native parents. born in the United States of alien parents Chinese ineligible. residents-Eligibility of children of. Federal rights of. |