These cases involve some questions which were not in the Guinn Case, No. 96, just decided [[[238 U.S. 347]], 59 L. ed. --, 35 Sup. Ct. Rep. 926]. The foundation question, however, is the same; that is, the operation and effect of the 15th Amendment.
Prior to the adoption of the 15th Amendment the privilege of suffrage was conferred by the Constitution of Maryland of 1867 upon 'every white male citizen,' but the 15th Amendment by its self-operative force obliterated the word 'white,' and caused the qualification therefore to be 'every male citizen,' and this came to be recognized by the court of appeals of the state of Maryland. Without recurring to the establishment of the city of Annapolis as a municipality in earlier days, or following the development of its government, it suffices to say that before 1877 the right to vote for the governing municipal body was vested in persons entitled to vote for members of the general assembly of Maryland, which standard, by the elimination of the word 'white' from the Constitution by the 15th Amendment embraced 'every male citizen.' In 1896 a general election law comprising many sections was enacted in Maryland. Laws of 1896, chap. 202, p. 327. It is sufficient to say that it provided for a board of supervisors of elections in each county to be appointed by the governor, and that this board was given the power to appoint two persons as registering officers and two as judges of election for each election precinct or ward in the county. Under this law each ward or voting precinct in Annapolis became entitled to two registering officers. While the law made these changes in the election machinery it did not change the qualification of voters.
In 1908 an act was passed 'to fix the qualifications of voters at municipal elections in the city of Annapolis and to provide for the registration of said voters.' Laws of 1908, chap. 525, p. 347. This law authorized the appointment of three persons as registers, instead of two, in each election ward or precinct in Annapolis, and provided for the mode in which they should perform their duties, and conferred the right of registration and consequently the right to vote on all male citizens above the age of twenty-one years who had resided one year in the municipality and had not been convicted of crime, and who came within any one of the three following classes:
'1. All taxpayers of the city of Annapolis assessed on the city books for at least $500. 2. And duly naturalized citizens. 2 1/2. And male children of naturalized citizens who have reached the age of twenty-one years. 3. All citizens who prior to January 1, 1868, were entitled to vote in the state of Maryland or any other state of the United States at a state election, and the lawful male descendants of any person who prior to January 1, 1868, was entitled to vote in this state or in any other state of the United States at a state election, and no person not coming within one of the three enumerated classes shall be registered as a legal voter of the city of Annapolis or qualified to vote at the municipal elections held therein, and any person so duly registered shall, while so registered, be qualified to vote at any municipal election held in said city; said registration shall in all other respects conform to the laws of the state of Maryland relating to and providing for registration in the state of Maryland.'