the registry lists, and
to affix their names to the lists for the purpose of identification and
the prevention of frauds; to attend at elections and remain with the
boxes till they are all cast and counted; to attach to the registry
lists and election returns any statement touching the accuracy and
fairness of the registry and election, and to take and transmit to
the Clerk of the House of Representatives any evidence of fraudulent
practices which may be presented to them. The same law provides for the
appointment of deputy United States marshals to attend at the polls,
support the supervisors in the discharge of their duties, and to arrest
persons violating the election laws. The provisions of this familiar
title of the Revised Statutes have been put into exercise by both the
great political parties, and in the North as well as in the South,
by the filing with the court of the petitions required by the law.

It is not, therefore, a question whether we shall have a Federal
election law, for we now have one and have had for nearly twenty years,
but whether we shall have an effective law. The present law stops just
short of effectiveness, for it surrenders to the local authorities all
control over the certification which establishes the _prima facie_ right
to a seat in the House of Representatives. This defect should be cured.
Equality of representation and the parity of the electors must be
maintained or everything that is valuable in our system of government is
lost. The qualifications of an elector must be sought in the law, not
in the opinions, prejudices, or fears of any class, however powerful.
The path of the elector to the ballot box must be free from the ambush
of fear and the enticements of fraud; the count so true and open that
none shall gainsay it. Such a law should be absolutely nonpartisan and
impartial. It should give the advantage to honesty and the control to
majorities. Surely there is nothing sectional about this creed, and if
it shall happen that the penalties of laws intended to enforce these
rights fall here and not there it is not because the law is sectional,
but because, happily, crime is local and not universal. Nor should it be
forgotten that every law, whether relating to elections or to any other
subject, whether enacted by the State or by the nation, has force behind
it; the courts, the marshal or constable, the _posse comitatus_, the
prison, are all and always behind the law.

One can not