be remembered that when the votes of the soldiers who were fighting our
battles in the Southern States were needed to sustain their friends at
home, no difficulty was found in the way of taking their votes at their
respective camps.

I humbly submit to your honor, therefore, that on the constitutional
grounds to which I have referred, Miss Anthony had a lawful right to
vote; that her vote was properly received and counted; that the first
section of the fourteenth amendment secured to her that right, and did
not need the aid of any further legislation.

But conceding that I may be in error in supposing that Miss Anthony had
a right to vote, she has been guilty of no crime, if she voted in good
faith believing that she had such right.

This proposition appears to me so obvious, that were it not for the
severity to my client of the consequences which may follow a conviction,
I should not deem it necessary to discuss it.

To make out the offence, it is incumbent on the prosecution to show
affirmatively, not only that the defendant knowingly voted, but that she
so voted _knowing that she had no right to vote_. That is, the term
"knowingly," applies, not to the fact of voting, but to the fact of
_want of right_. Any other interpretation of the language would be
absurd. We cannot conceive of a case where a party could vote without
knowledge of the fact of voting, and to apply the term "knowingly" to
the more act of voting, would make nonsense of the statute. This word
was inserted as defining the essence of the offence, and it limits the
criminality to cases where the voting is not only without right, but
where it is done wilfully, with a _knowledge that it is without right_.