Suppose, for instance, the city of Albany was to be appointed
the sole place of election for the county and district of which it is a
part, would not the inhabitants of that city speedily become the only
electors of the members both of the Senate and Assembly for that county
and district? Can we imagine that the electors who reside in the remote
subdivisions of the counties of Albany, Saratoga, Cambridge, etc., or in
any part of the county of Montgomery, would take the trouble to come to
the city of Albany, to give their votes for members of the Assembly or
Senate, sooner than they would repair to the city of New York, to
participate in the choice of the members of the federal House of
Representatives? The alarming indifference discoverable in the exercise
of so invaluable a privilege under the existing laws, which afford every
facility to it, furnishes a ready answer to this question. And,
abstracted from any experience on the subject, we can be at no loss to
determine, that when the place of election is at an INCONVENIENT
DISTANCE from the elector, the effect upon his conduct will be the same
whether that distance be twenty miles or twenty thousand miles.
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