Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 February 1889 — GUARDING THE BALLOT. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GUARDING THE BALLOT.

THE AUSTRALIAN SYSTEM OF VOTING EXPLAINED. Detail* of a Method Which Is Becoming W'idely Popular in This Country—Wigmore’s Recently Published Work on the Ulan—lts Origin a id Growth. In view of the evident need of an electoral reform in this country, says the Chicago Inter Ocean, and of the prominence with which the Australian method of voting has been suggested as a relief, the work entitled “The Australian Ballot System,” by John H. Wigmore, of the Boston Bar, becomes of unusual interest. Mr. Wigmore says: “It is proposed in the following introductory pages to sketch the history of the measure known as the Australian ballot system, as it passed from state to state in Australia, on to the mother country in Europe, thence westward to Canada, and eastward to continental countries, and finally westward again to these United States, and in conclusion to take up briefly the reasons underlying its effectiveness and the application of its principles to practical conditions in this country. ” The system is, briefly, as follows: The aim is to provide for a secret ballot. To secure this the ballbts are printed at public expense, tho names of all the candidates for all the offices being on one slip. The voter, having passed the usual examination as to his eligibility, receives one of these slips from a ballot officer, and retires alone to an unoccupied compartment of a booth, a long counter divided off by* partitions. Here he marks with a cross the name of the candidate for whom he intends to vote, folds up tho si ip and hands it to the presiding officer, who deposits it in the ballot-box. The plan was introduced by Francis S. Dutton, member of the Legislature of South Australia from 1851 to 1865, and during that time twice at the head of the Government. The secret ballot was first

proposed by him in the session of Legislative Council of 1851, before representative government and universal suffrage had been granted to South Australia. In 1856 came the Constitution granting popular representation and manhood suffrage. Tne measure became a law, under tbe name of the elections act, in 1857. Soon the aspect of elections was completely chnnged. Biot and disorder disappeared eutirely, and the day of polling saw sucb quietness that a stranger would not realize that an election was going on. Intimidation by landlords and dictation by trades unions alike ceased. Its operations have since been extendod, so that now it npplies to all elections alike—municipal, rurnl, and legislative—in the colony. The system spread rapidly throughout Australia, and soon was heard of in England, where thoughtful men were anxiously looking for some solution of the problem of pure and tranquil elections. In the elections of 18S8 matters reached a climax, and March, 1869, saw a committee appointed, with the Marquis of Hnrtington in the chair, to inquire into the existing methods of conducting elections, in order to provide further guarantees “for the tranquillity, purity and freedom of parliamentary and municipal elections.” In 1870 the committee reported a recommendation that the secret ballot bo adopted. The fruit of the movement wis the ballot act of 1572, based substantially on tbe South Australian method, but modified, enlarged and carefully applied to the circumstances of its new home. It at once commended itself to tbe people, and now covers almost the entire field of elections in Great Britain. Belgium and Norway soon adopted tbe secret ballot, and Canada introduced it with success. A number of States in this country have taken steps toward the introduction of the system. In New York the first steps were taken in 1887, during the winter of which tho Commonwealth Club devoted several meetings to the failure of the law to protect tho suffrage. A committee was appointed to draft a bill, which was joined by a like committee from the City Befovm Club, and a measure was prepared which, after being approved bv the Commonwealth Club, the Beform Club, the City Reform Club, and the Labor party, was presented to the Assembly about the middle of the session of 1888, and was known as the Yate3 bill. With similar bills it was referred to the Committee on Judiciary, and what was known as the Yates-Saxton bill was reported and passed, but was vetoed by Gov. Hill. In Massachusetts a bill was presented and passed in tho Legislature of 1888. The measure was defeated in Michigan through the failure of the two branches of the Legislature to agree. The Legislatures of nearly every State now have measures providing for the socret ballot before them, and before many years it is probable that the entire election machinery of the country will have been reformed in accordance with the principles of tho Australian method. The system has now received the approval of the Legislatures of seventeen civilized States, and regulates the elections of 85,000,000 people. The cardinal features of tho system, as everywhere adopted, are two: An arrangement for polling by which compulsory secrecy of voliDg is "secured, and an official ballot containing the names of all candidates printed and distributed under State or municipal authority. The secret ballot checks bribery and ali those corrupt practices which consist in voting according to a bargain or understanding. A man is not apt to place his money corruptly when he can not satisfy himself that the vote is according to agreement. Tho marking of the vote in seclusipn reaches effectively another great class of

*4 evils, taeW<4ng violence and intimidation, improper influence, dictation by employ, ers or organizations, the lear of lidicnle or disiike, or of social or commercial injury. Tumult and disorder at the polls, bargaining and trading of votes, and all questionable practices depending upon the knowledge gained of the drift of the contest most disappear. Another essential feature of the Australian system is the development of the traditional system oi nomination in England and Australia. Now the only avenue to an election seems to be through a nomination by a caucus oi convention. The proposed system enables any body of citizens of the numbei prescribed by law (sometimes ns low as J per cent, of the voting population) toTiavt the name of their candidate printed on the same ballot with the names of all other candidates for the 6ame office, 60 that before the law and before the voters all candates and all party organizations will stand on a perfectly even footing. ballot act passed in Massachusetts in 1888 provides that all ballots shall be printed and distributed at public expense. Conventions, caucuses, or individual voters to the proper number may nominate candidates, any party being entitled tc representation which, at the election nexi preceding, polled at least 3 per cent, ol the entire vote. The certificate of nomination must be properly signed and attested. Nominations of candidates foi any offices to be filled by the voters of the State at large may be made by nomination papers signed by not less than 1,000 qualified voters of the State. * Nominations oi candidates for electoral districts or divisions of the State may bo made by nomination papers signed in the aggregate foi each candidate by qualified voters of such district or division, not less in numbei than one for every 100 persons who voted at the next preceding annual election iD such district, but in no case less than fifty. Nomination papers for State offices shall be filed at least fourteen days before the election, and for city offices at least six days before. The tickets must ba

made up and samples posted before the day of election, and the tickets are also to be published in at least two newspapers in each county. The voter receives his ballot from an election officer, marks it in a private compartment of the voting-shelf, and deposits it in the box without leaving the inclosed 6pace. Any person attempting to allow his ballot to he seeD. to show how he is going to vote, shall be fined. A numbor of emergencies which are liable to arise are provided for. A blind or illiterate person may receive assistance in preparing his ballot from an election officer. An acceptance of the nomination is sometimes required, and in some cases candidates are required to make a deposit in order to prevent excessive and irresponsible candidacy. Some methods furnish a sort of sentry-box in which the ticket is prepared, but the partitioned shelf is tlie usual plan. Arrangements for the identification of the official ballots, withdiawals of candidates, and space for additional names nre also made. The Dominion elections act, in force in Canada, was passed in 1874, and is regarded as one of the best conceived among the various statutes dealing with the subject. It provides that twenty-five electors may nominate a candidate; that the nomination paper must contain the consent in writing of the person nominated, and that tho sum of ?50 must be paid to the returning officer at the time of handing in the nomination paper. It is provided, as in the English statute, that no informality shall vitiate the election, if the principles of the act have been followed, and if the result of tbe election has not been affected. Fears have sometimes been expressed that the new method of marking the vote would have difficulties for the less intelligent voters, but the result has showed these to be groundless. For instance, at the Leeds election of 1874, out of 31,793 votes only eighty were void for uncertainty or failure to mark. In the Kent election only thirty-two votes out of 23,000 were lost for uncertainty, and Ihe3e were the first trials of the system, and in places where illiteracy reaches its height. As regards polling arrangements under the new system, it was found that at the time of greatest pressure (and that under the cumbrous English provisions for taking the votes of illiterates) votes could be received at tho rate of from 150 to 200 per hour, and this even where only private compartments were provided at each polling-place. The leading device for defeating the secret ballot is known ns the Tasmanian dodge. By it the elector manages to substitute a spurious ballot for the official one given him by tbe l allot-clerk, and takes the official ballot to the man who is buying votes outside. He marks it in ink, and gives it to one of his purchases, who enters the inclosure, votes the marked ticket, and takes the blank ticket to the man outside. This can be obviated by the system of marking the ballot when it is given to the elector. The advantages of the Australian system of voting have been far more than its drawbacks, and now that it has received a thorough trial under widely varying conditions, the prospect for its adoption in Illinois entitles it to careful consideration. John H. aged 23, a tickettaker in the "World’s Museum at Boston, Mass., has inherited SIOO,COO under the will of his uncle, Lieutenant Governor James H. McDonald, of Escanaba, Mich., who was killed in a railway accident Jau. 26, leaving a large fortune. Civil-Service Commissioner Edoerton has been removed by the President. Thebe are 14,722 lunatics in New York State—exclusive of Herr Most and O’Donovan Bossa. —Philadelphia Times.

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