The indictment is found under the 19th section of the Act as it passed originally, and the 20th section as amended by the Act of February 28th, 1871.

The 19th Section, so far as it is necessary to quote it here, is as follows: 

“That if at any election for representatives or delegates in the Congress of the United States any person shall knowingly personate and vote, or attempt to vote, in the name of any other person, whether living or dead, or fictitious; or vote more than once at the same election for any candidate for the same office; or vote at a place where he may not be entitled to vote; or vote without having a lawful right to vote, ... or knowingly and wilfully receives the vote of any person not entitled to vote, or refuses to receive the vote of any person entitled to vote; ... every such person shall be deemed guilty of a crime, and shall for such crime be liable to prosecution in any Court of the United States of competent jurisdiction, and on conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years, or both, in the discretion of the Court, and shall pay the costs of prosecution.”

Section 20, as amended, so far as pertinent, reads as follows: 

“That if at any registration of voters for an election for representatives or delegates in the Congress of the United States, any person shall knowingly ... hinder any person having a lawful right to register, from duly exercising that right; or compel or induce by any of such means, or other unlawful means, ANY OFFICER OF REGISTRATION to admit to registration any person not legally entitled thereto; ... or if any such officer shall knowingly and wilfully register as a voter any person not entitled to be registered, or refuse so to register any person entitled to be registered, ... every such person shall be deemed guilty of a crime, and shall be liable to prosecution and punishment therefor, as provided in section 19 of said Act of May 31, 1870, for persons guilty of the crimes therein specified.”

No law of Congress describes the qualifications of voters in this State, or in any State.

Congress has provided no registry law.  Therefore, what constitutes the offenses charged in this indictment, must be looked for in the laws of the State.  By no Act of Congress can it be determined in what case a person votes, “without having a right to vote.”  By no Act of Congress can it be determined when an Inspector of Election has received the vote of “any person not entitled to vote,” or has registered “as a voter, any person not entitled to be registered.”  These are the offenses alleged in this indictment.  They are penal offenses by the Statutes of New York.  The jurisdiction of the State Courts over them is complete, and cannot be questioned.