Show A pecullar PECULIAR FEATURE OF THE edhlund S ACT tm THIS annexed communication has heeen besen beil rec received elVed elvod naom atom a coull try settle ment and we notice and answer ss as requested editor deseret mews news will you yon please answer the following g through the columns odthe of the NEWS newa under the tho edmunds law and the ruling of the utah commission is a man entitled to register and consequently 81 to vote chois married to a woman leaving another living husband to make the question more clear I 1 shall give an example suppose a woman marries in polygamy and afterwards leaves her husband hus hua band babore before the year 1862 but does not receive a divorce she marries again now Is her second husband a qualified voter yours truly INQUIRER we suppose our correspondent wants to know wh ethera man sit bated as described is rendered ineligible by bi reason of his marriage to a woman who has be absen en previously married but has hab obtained no legal iagal divorce to a question put in that shape we should answer no the edmunds law disqualifies a bigamist polygamist or person cohabiting with more than one woman also a woman cohabiting with any buch such person pem pen ron son from voting or holding office in this territory but in the case supposed or described the man la Is not in elthe either r of these conditions dit ions under the edmunds law the woman is a polygamist unless her former husband has been absent from her for five years and la Is not known by her to ba living bhe she is therefore ineligible to vote but the present husband if he has no other obber wife and does not cohabit with more than one woman and has the requisite qualifications of citizenship zenshi zen ship pl residences residence etc I 1 is 8 qualified to vote as there is nothing in the law that touches his case the law discriminates harshly against women in this respect any i woman whose husband cohabits with another besides here gif eif whether with her consent or not is dis dle franchised by the edmunds law but a mancho man who lives with a woman who has had other husbands from whom she has not been legally dl di voiced or who cohabits with a woman manthai that cohabits with other men Is not dis franchised by that singular effort at moral legislation known as the edmunds act if the man referred to has all the regular quail quill I 1 fleat ions lons as aa a voters voter ho lae is not dis dia qualified under the law by ent marital associations |