Allyn

Elections Code section 310 which prescribes the contents of the voters affidavit of registration requires, among other things, that “The given name of a woman shall be preceded in all cases by the designation Miss or Mrs.”

Appellants, both women, each executed an affidavit of registration on which they inserted before their names the designation Ms. which denotes the sex but not the marital status of a female. The Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters refused to accept and process the registrations. Pursuant to Elections Code section 350 1 appellants petitioned the Superior Court of Los Angeles County for a writ of mandate to require acceptance of their registration to vote. That court sustained a demurrer without leave to amend and entered an order of dismissal. This appeal ensued.

*451 Appellant’s contentions are that requiring a woman to disclose her marital status when registering to vote (1) adds an unnecessary requirement to the voting qualifications contained in article II, section 1 of the California Constitution; 2 (2) denies to women the equal protection of the law since there is no similar requirement for men; and (3) violates the Nineteenth Amendment to the…

Elections Code section 310 which prescribes the contents of the voters affidavit of registration requires, among other things, that "The given name of a woman shall be preceded in all cases by the designation Miss or Mrs."

Appellants, both women, each executed an affidavit of registration on which they inserted before their names the designation Ms. which denotes the sex but not the marital status of a female. The Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters refused to accept and process the registrations. Pursuant to Elections Code section 350 [1] appellants petitioned the Superior Court of Los Angeles County for a writ of mandate to require acceptance of their registration to vote. That court sustained a demurrer without leave to amend and entered an order of dismissal. This appeal ensued.

(1a) Appellant's contentions are that requiring a woman to disclose her marital status when registering to vote (1) adds an unnecessary requirement to the voting qualifications contained in article II, section 1 of the California Constitution; [2] (2) denies to women the equal protection of the law since there is no similar requirement for men; and (3) violates the Nineteenth…

titles of military rank the market in titles for women never ceases to fluctuate. The earlier respected title of Mistress has fallen on hard times, and the once vaunted title of Madam has suffered a worse fate, rehabilitative efforts of Frances Perkins and Pearl Mesta notwithstanding. On the other hand the title Miss, probably an abbreviation for Mistress, has risen in the scale from a designation for a concubine to one for a young unmarried woman, while the title Mrs., also an abbreviation for Mistress, has fallen from a title of gentility to one now extended to all married women without superior titles. Petitioners here assert a constitutional right to the use of a third title, Ms., on the ground they are affronted and offended by having to choose between Miss and Mrs. and thereby designate their marital status for purposes of voting registration.

Apart from general custom I find no essential connection between marital status and use of the titles, Miss and Mrs. Actresses today, even those who have married as many times as the sands of the sea, use the title Miss. In past centuries the practice was the precise opposite, and actresses and

*455 authoresses used the title Mrs.…