Lodge Bill


The Lodge Bill of 1890, also referred to as the Federal Elections Bill or by critics as the Lodge Force Bill, was a proposed bill to ensure the security of elections for U.S. Representatives. It was drafted and proposed by Representative Henry Cabot Lodge of Massachusetts and sponsored in the Senate by George Frisbie Hoar with the endorsement of President Benjamin Harrison and all Republicans. The bill provided for the federal regulation of elections to the United States House of Representatives, which had heretofore been regulated by state governments. In particular, the bill would have permitted federal circuit courts to appoint federal supervisors for congressional elections. Supervisors would have the power to attend elections, inspect registration lists, verify doubtful voter information, administer oaths to challenged voters, stop illegal immigrants from voting, and certify the vote count. Perhaps most controversially, the supervisor would have the power to request Deputy United States Marshals to secure elections by force if deemed necessary.
The bill was created primarily to enforce the ability of blacks, predominantly Republican at the time, to vote in the Southern United States, as provided for in the constitution. The Fifteenth Amendment already formally guaranteed that right, but white southern Democrats had passed laws restricting voter registration and instituting electoral requirements, such as requiring payment of poll taxes and literacy tests, that effectively prevented blacks from voting. That year Mississippi passed a new constitution that disfranchised most blacks, and other states would soon follow the "Mississippi plan".
After passing the House by just six votes, the Lodge bill was successfully filibustered by Democrats in the Senate, with little action by the President of the Senate, Vice President Levi P. Morton, because Silver Republicans in the West traded it away for Southern support of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act and Northern Republicans traded it away for Southern support of the McKinley Tariff.

Background

The 15th Amendment to the US Constitution states: “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” Its purpose was to acknowledge African American men's voting rights. After the passage of the 15th Amendment in 1870, African Americans were subjected to voting restrictions in certain states. Disenfranchisement of African Americans came in various forms, such as poll taxes, literacy tests, white primaries, and grandfather clauses.

Provisions

According to an article written on March 15 and published on March 16, 1890, from The New York Times, the Lodge Bill had 21 sections.
The article described the provisions of the law as follows:
  1. Whenever 500 persons, voters and residents in any Congressional district of the United States, not less than two months prior to the next election of Representatives, petition the Judge of the District Court to place the next Congressional election in said district under the provisions of this act, it shall be the duty of such Judge to announce at once that the next Congressional election in said district will be held under the provisions of this act. The Judge shall then appoint such officers of election and registration and make such other provision for the conduct of the Congressional election as are hereafter provided.
  2. There are to be two registers of voters for each voting precinct, one of whom shall be a member of the party which at the next preceding Presidential election polled the highest number of votes, and one a member of the party which polled the next highest number of votes. These registers are to prepare a preliminary list of the voters of their precinct, which shall be posted publicly and give notice that they will meet at specified times and places to register voters. Within three days after the posting of the preliminary lists the registers shall begin to hold meetings, which shall be public, to register all duly qualified voters who may come before them and who are not already registered. Registration shall cease not less than ten days before election. The second list of voters shall then be published, but no names shall be added after the close of registration, and no names shall be stricken off except on proof of death or removal from the Congressional district.
  3. The ballots shall be of white paper of the weight ordinarily used in printing, and not more than eight nor less than six inches wide, nor more than ten nor less than eight inches long, and before distribution the ballots shall be so folded in marked creases that their width and length when folded shall be one-half the width and length herein specified. On the back and outside, when folded, shall be printed "Official ballot for Representative in Congress," followed by the designation of the polling place for which the ballot is proposed, the date of election and a fac simile of the signature of the clerk of the district who has caused the ballot to be printed. All ballots when printed shall be folded as herein before provided, and fastened together in such manner that each ballot may be detached and removed separately. A record of the number of ballots printed and furnished to each polling place shall be kept by the Clerk of the District Court.
  4. There shall be provided for each voting place three sets of such ballots, each of not less than 100 for every 50 and fraction of 50 registered male voters therein, and it shall be the duty of the registrars of voters in each precinct to certify to the Clerk of the District Court, fourteen days previous to such election, the number of male registered voters in such voting precinct. Provision is also made for the printing and distribution of instructions for the guidance of voters as to obtaining ballots, manner of marking them, &c.
  5. As to the manner of voting, it is provided that the inspectors and registrars in each voting precinct shall designate and appoint a polling place therein, at a convenient place, and shall cause to be provided a sufficient number of voting shelves or compartments at or in which voters may conveniently mark their ballots so that in the marking they may be screened from the observation of others; and a guard rail shall be so constructed and placed that only such persons as are inside of it can approach within twenty feet of the ballot boxes and of such shelves or compartments.
  6. The arrangements shall be such that neither the ballot boxes nor the voting shelves or compartments shall be hidden from view of those outside the rail. The number of such shelves or compartments shall not be less than one for every seventy-five voters and not less than three in any precinct. Any person desiring to vote shall give his name and, if requested, his residence, to one of the registrars, who shall announce the same in a loud and distinct voice; and if such name be found upon the check list by the registrar he shall immediately report it and the voter shall be allowed to enter the space inclosed by the rail. He shall be furnished with but one ballot and his name then checked off. Besides the election officers no voters in excess of the number of voting shelves or compartments provided shall be allowed in said inclosed space at one time.
  7. On receipt of his ballot the voter shall forthwith, and without leaving the inclosed space, retire alone to one of the voting shelves or compartments and prepare his ballot by marking in the appropriate margin or place a cross opposite the name of the candidate of his choice for Congressman, or by filling in the name of the candidate of his choice in the blank space provided and marking a cross opposite thereto. Before leaving the voting shelf or compartment the voter shall fold his ballot without displaying the marks thereon in the same way it was folded when received by him, and he shall keep the same so folded until he has voted. He shall then vote, after announcing his name to the inspector and having it checked on the inspectors' list before leaving the inclosed space, and shall deposit his ballot in the box with the official indorsement uppermost.
  8. He shall mark and deposit his ballot without undue delay and shall quit the inclosed space as soon as he has voted. No voter shall be allowed to occupy a voting shelf or compartment already occupied by another, nor to remain within said inclosed space for more than six minutes, nor to occupy a voting shelf or compartment for more than five minutes, in case all of such shelves or compartments are in use and other voters are waiting to occupy them. No person shall take or remove any ballot from the polling place before the close of the polls.
  9. Other sections provide that where there is no constitutional educational qualification voters who cannot read or see may receive the assistance of the inspectors in marking their ballots. A voter who purposely allows anyone to know how he is about to vote by showing his marked ballot, or any person who endeavors to induce a voter to show his marked ballot, shall be subject to a fine of from $50 to $500, and larger fines and penalties are to be imposed for destruction of election posters or supplies or for filing false certificates of nominations or for failure of election officers in their duties.
  10. Challenges are not to be entertained for the purpose of delaying voting. The returns of elections are to be made in duplicate to the Clerk of the District Court, who, with the Judge of the court, is to compute the votes in each Congressional district and certify the result, as at present, to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, who is to place on the roll the names of the persons certified.
  11. The Marshal of the court is required to furnish deputies to preserve order, under the direction of the election officers, and to secure to all duly qualified voters the peaceable exercise of their right to vote, but he is not to allow them to interfere with the election. Registrars are to receive $2 per day and inspectors and deputies $3. They are to be paid on certificate of the Clerk of the court, who is to pay the expense of printing ballots, and for these purposes the bill carries an appropriation of $500,000.