ustxtxb_obs_1966_02_18_50_00013-00000_000.pdf

I-~~04#####NOOOS#41.###############~~~~#, Observations DALLAS, TEXAS HOTEL JEFFERSON-DALLAS Completely redecorated and air conditioned. Adjoining Garage and FREE PARKING. Wonderfully convenient location overlooking Ferris Plazanear Union Station, main high::: way routes and all city-wide transportation. Famous for fine foods. Meeting rooms facilities for groups of from 10 to 500 persons. RAYMOND L. MULLIKIN, Managing Director 312 South Houston TEXAS SIZE HOSPITALITY AT THE IDEALLY LOCATED r rrt” \(re rfr eirrrr i r rrarCrcrr rffrir rrrr FCLEr rff r r u r i rrr ,c _ir t ati .s r r n: roc;Lusj c s:::: 4 f r t vr , r u c r -; rcss trreg Scr r rr rrr ci.se tugs rrr 4dkt’e Voter Registration Some of the leaders in the special legislative session in Austin are predisposing members against a permanent voter registration system, which is what 34 states in the Union were using according to the latest figures we have, for 1960. Lt. Gov. Preston Smith said at a press conference that senators he has spoken to favor requiring citizens to register anew every year because, he said, this is the best way to assure honest elections. Speaker B e n Barnes makes it clear he thinks the skids are greased for annual registration. Annual registration makes voting harder, obviously, so the burden of proof that it is less fraud-proof than permanent registration falls on those who say it is. The nonpartisan Texas League of Women Voters has long proposed a permanent registration system, with periodic purging of the names of the ineligible and the dead. Voters can also be required to re-register by voting, say, once every four years. Where officials are determined to contrive to be corrupt no procedure is infallible, but with so many of the states successfully using a permanent system, we are entitled to suspect that those now championing an nual registration for Texas are trying to keep the Texas electorate small. Another major issue this session is whether voters will be permitted to register at times closer to elections than the present poll tax deadline, Jan. 31. There is no good reason for this deadline being three full months before the primaries and nine months before the general election. It is common sense that many voters don’t get interested until the candidates get to stirring, and that .by then it’s well past Jan. 31. Registration ought to be permitted year-round, or at least up to within the time it actually requires to prepare lists of qualified voters for the officials at the polls. The “team” bill that would permit voter registration this year for only 15 days is, in this respect, a gross affront to democracy. According to the National Municipal League’s model voter registration system, “A voter should register by duplicate signature, before a trained clerk of the registration office, by a personal’ appearance, at any time of year, and one such registration should suffice till the voter dies or moves or persistently fails to vote. Lists of the registered voters by precincts and street addresses should be readily obtain GOING SOUTHWES Real hospitality and comfort awaits you at an Alsonett Hotel or Motel . Family and commercial rates . TEXAS Denison Dennison Hotel 117 S. Burnett Ave. Lubbock Caprock Hotel Main & Texas St. Paris Nicholson Hotel 750 Bonham Street Port Arthur Goodhue Hotel 549 5th St. Sabine Hotel 600 Procter Texarkana Grim Hotel 3rd St. & State Line Ave_ Waco Raleigh Hotel Eight & Austin Ave. OKLAHOMA Ada Hotel Aldrigde McAlester Hotel Aldridge Shawnee Hotel Aldridge KANSAS Topeka Jayhawk Hotel 700 Jackson St. Jayhawk Highway Hotel U.S. Hwys. 24 & 75 LOUISIANA Lake Charles Hotel Charleston 900 Ryan St. Shreveport Hotel Washington Youree 401 Edwards For additional information and rates write or call: ALSONETT HOTELS/MOTELS 9 East Huron Street Chicago, Illinois