Only the inefficiency of the State laws or an unfair
partisan administration of them could suggest a departure from
this policy.
It was clearly, however, in the contemplation of the framers of
the Constitution that such an exigency might arise, and provision
was wisely made for it. The freedom of the ballot is a condition
of our national life, and no power vested in Congress or in the
Executive to secure or perpetuate it should remain unused upon
occasion. The people of all the Congressional districts have an
equal interest that the election in each shall truly express the
views and wishes of a majority of the qualified electors residing
within it. The results of such elections are not local, and the
insistence of electors residing in other districts that they shall
be pure and free does not savor at all of impertinence.
If in any of the States the public security is thought to be
threatened by ignorance among the electors, the obvious remedy is
education. The sympathy and help of our people will not be
withheld from any community struggling with special embarrassments
or difficulties connected with the suffrage if the remedies
proposed proceed upon lawful lines and are promoted by just and
honorable methods. How shall those who practice election frauds
recover that respect for the sanctity of the ballot which is the
first condition and obligation of good citizenship? The man who
has come to regard the ballot box as a juggler's hat has renounced
his allegiance.
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