Alabama Constitution Section 184 Applicability of article as to elections held after 1902 general election
Certainly! Here's a detailed explanation of Section 184 of the Alabama Constitution:
🔹 Full Context of Section 184:
This section is part of the Alabama Constitution of 1901, particularly the article dealing with elections and voter qualifications. Section 184 says:
"The provisions of this article shall apply to all elections held after the general election in the year 1902, and not otherwise."
🔍 What This Means:
"This article" refers to...
The sections surrounding Section 184 (like Sections 180–183) that set voter qualifications, registration rules, and disqualifications for voting. These were new legal standards created in the 1901 Constitution.
"Elections held after the general election in the year 1902"
This is the cutoff point for when these new voter laws would start to be enforced.
Any election before or during 1902 is not affected by these new rules.
Any election after 1902 must follow these new constitutional requirements (like literacy tests, poll taxes, property requirements, etc.).
Purpose of this clause:
It prevents confusion about whether these new voting rules were retroactive (they were not).
It provides legal clarity by specifying that only future elections would follow these voter restrictions.
🧠 Historical Significance:
The Alabama Constitution of 1901 was widely criticized for intentionally disenfranchising Black voters and poor whites through complex voter qualification rules.
Section 184 allowed the 1902 general election to proceed under older, less restrictive laws, but ensured that from 1903 onward, these new, restrictive laws would control who could vote.
📌 In Simple Terms:
Section 184 says:
“All these new voting rules will start after the 1902 election. So, the 1902 election still follows the old rules.”
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