Democratic Sentinel, Volume 14, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1890 — INDIANA ELECTION LAW [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

INDIANA ELECTION LAW

NEW METHOD OF CASTING THE BALLOT. A Complete Synopsis of the Requirements »1 a Voter at the Polls—How Polling Places Must Be Arranged—Duties of Sheriff andDeputies—Electioneering Prohibited—How a Challenge Must Be Made and the Vote Counted, On March 6, 1889, the General Assembly of the State of Indiana passed an election law which is now in force. The first election which will occur under the ■provisions of this law takes place on the 4th of November next. The law is very cumbersome and liable to mislead those not familiar with its provisions. The law does not require the repeated registration of citizens who reside continuously in the same county, but it does require the registration of every person who moves into the county within six months preceding an election, whether he previously resided within the State or not, and also of every person who, having once been a citizen of Indiana, shall have voted in another State or gone there with the intention of voting, or who shall have been absent from the State for six months. The important features of the new law are the registration of voters and the secrecy of depositing the ballot. The reader may get an idea of the arrangement of the polling place from the diagram given below, and as the plan shown is the simplest and most convenient it will probably be the one most generally used.

D S.—Deputy shorltfs stationed at, tile ends •f the cliute. C.—Challenging window. D.— Door where the voter enters election room. E. B. —Election board. B. B. B.—Booths ior elector to prepare his ballot in. w.—Windows. The chute is a passageway, with a railing, rope or wire on each side, and it must extend fifty feet away from tho challenge window. All persons except election officers and challengers are prohibited from coining within fifty feet of the polls, except as they come through this chute to enter the oleetjon room. The election sheriffs are special deputies appointed by the County Sheriff to act as officers at the polls. The sheriffs must be at the polls when they open and remain until the count is concluded. They must make arrests on the demand of any member of the Board, and also on affidavit made before tho Inspector by any qualified voter that any person who has voted is not a legal voter. The new law puts a stop to needless and indiscriminate challenging, and but one challenger and one poll book holder, designated by each party organization, are entitled to stand at tho side of the chute next the challenge, window. When a person is challenged he must stand aside or make affidavit that he is a legal voter. If lie makes affidavit that he is entitled to vote, unless the challenger or some other person makes affidavit that he is not a legal voter, tho voter must then bring a qualified voter of the precinct, as a witness, who must swear that of his own knowledge the claimant is a legal voter. According to law the voter must be screened from view while marking and folding his ballot, and for this purpose election booths are to bo used. These are nothing more than little stalls pro-

vided with a small shelf or counter and with curtains or doors which the vote closes after him. These booths contain three apartments, or enough for three voters at one time. The accompanying illustration shows a voter in the booth with curtain drawn. The County Board of Election Commissioners will prepare and distribute ballots for the election of all officers who are to be voted for in their county other than those to be voted for by all the electors of the State, and the names of all candidates of their respective juris-' dictions will be printed on one ballot, all nominations of any party being placed under the title and device adopted by such party. The ballot shall be of uniform size and of the same quality and color of paper, and sufficiently thick that the printing cannot be distinguished from the back. The ballots prepared by the State Board of Election Commissioners will be printed on red tinted paper and put up in blocks of 100 each, while those prepared by the County Board of Election Commissioners arc to be printed oh white paper. The arrangement of the ballot is to be after the mauner shown. The device adopted and list of candidates of the Democratic party must occupy the first column on the left hand side of the ballot, that of the Republican party in the second column and that of the Prohibition party in the third column. The list of candidates of any qther party shall follow in such order ais the Board of Election Commissioners may decide. Samples of the ballots plainly marked “Sample ballot,” and printed on different colored paper from that on which the genuine ballot is printed, will be posted in the vicinity of the polling

plAce for the instruction and information of voters, but no voter is supposed to see the genuinp until It is given him by the polling clerks after he enters the election room. If the printer of the

-ballots shall give, or knowingly permit any one other than the Board of Election Commissioners to take, any of the ballots, he then, aecording to the law, has committed a felony, and is liable to imprisonment for a term not less than three nor more than ten years. If you are subject to registration, as before stated, you must register at the County Clerk’s office at least three mouths before the election. On going to the polls on election day pass through the chute to the challenge window, and if challenged, swear In your vote or stand aside. The necessary forms for affidavits will bo supplied at the challenging window. If not challenged, or after swearing in your vote, pass on through the chuto to the door, where you will be admitted in turn. When you enter the election room announce your name tb the poll-clerks, who will furnish you with a red ballot

containing the names 6f all candidates for State offices, a white ballot containing the names of all candidates for local offices, and a stamp for marking them. If you do not understand how to mark your ballots ask the poll clerks. If you cannot read English, or are physically unable to mark your ballots, the poll clerks will mark it for you, and on request will read over the names marked. Go alone into one of the unoccupied booths and mark your ballot with the stamp. If you wish to vote a “straight ticket” mark the square in front of tho title of your party at tho head of the ticket. If you wish to vote a mixed or “scratched” ticket mark the square in front pf tho name of each candidate for whom 'you wish to vote. If by accident you tear, mutilate, deface or spoil your ballot, go at once to the j poll clerks, explain how the accident occurred, and ask for another ballot. Before leaving the booth fold each of your ballots so that tho initials of the poll clerks on the back will show, but so that no part of the face of tho ballot can be seen. When your ballots are marked and folded come out of tho booth. Give tho stamp to the poll clerk from whom you received it and hand tho folded ballots to the inspector, who will put them in the ballot box in your presence. Then leave the room. When you have voted, and before you arc ready to vote, remain fifty feet away from the polls. As tho voter doubtless now understands pretty well what to do it is right that he should alike understand what he must do. Do not attempt to vote if you are not a legal voter. You are not a legal voter if you have not lived in the State six months, the township sixty days and the precinct thirty days. You are not a legal voter if you have lived in tho county less than six months and have not registered. If registered you must have your certificate with you. Do not accept a ballot from any person outside of the election room. Any ballot obtained outside is fraudulent, and It is a penitentiary offense to Have such a ballot in your possession whether you attempt to vote it or not. Do not attempt to hold any conversation iu the election room except with the members of the election board and the poll clerks. It is a penitentiary offense to declare that you cannot read English or cannot mark your ballot if in fact you can. Do not mark the ballot with tin? stamp at any place except the squares in front of the title of tho party, or the names of the candidates for whom you wish to vote. Do not put any mark of any kind on your ballot except with the stamp. Do not tear, mutilate, deface, or mark your ballot in any way so that it could be identified; and if you should do so accidentally do not attemptWo vote it. Do not show the face of your ballot to any person; you will lose your vote and be subject to lino and imprisonment if you do. Do not attempt to see the ballot of any other person. Do not attempt to vote any ballot except the one given you by the poll clerks. Do not injuro or interfere with any of the railings, posters, booths, or any of tho furniture used in conducting the election. Do not advise, counsel, or abet any vote buying, bribery or other violation of the election law. Severe penalties are provided doing or attempting to do any of those acts. Arty* voter tvh<J attempts to leave the election room with a ballot or stamp in his possession shall be immediately arrested, and any person having possession outside the election room any ballot or stamp, whether genuine or counterfeit, during the election sluHl be guilty of felony, and shall be imprisoned

in the penitentiary not less than two not more than five years, and shall be disfranchised for any determinate period not less than ten years. Immediately on closing the polls the Board shall count all the ballots remaining unvoted, record the number of the same on the tally sheets and destroy all of such ballots by totally consuming by fire. The Board shall then proceed to canvass the votes, beginning first with the State ballots, and completing them before proceeding with the local ballots, by laying each baNot on the table in the order in which it is taken from the ballot box, and the inspector and judge of the election, differing in politics from the inspector, shall view the ballots as tho names of the persons voted for are read therefrom. In the canvass of 'the votes any ballot which is not indorsed with the initials of the poll clerks, and any ballot which shall bear any distinguishing mark or mutilation, shall be void and shall not be counted, and any ballot or part of a ball 'mm which it is impossible to determine the elector’s chojee of candidates shall not be counted stS’to the candidate or candidates affected thereby; provided, however, that on protest of any member Of the Board such ballot, and all disputed ballots, shall be preserved by tho inspector, and at the close of the count placed with the seals of the ballot packages in paper bags, securely sealed, and so delivered to tho Clerk of the county, with notification to him of the number of so placed in such bags, and of the condition of the seals of the ballot packages. The poll cierk shall also record on tho tally sheets memoranda of such ballots and the condition of the seal of the ballot packages, and in any contest of election such ballots and seals may be submitted in evidence. On completing the count and recording the same on tho tally sheets all the remaining ballots, except those marked, mutilated or otherwise defective, shall be destroyed by the election board by totally consuming by fire before adjournment, and thereupon tho election board shall immediately mako a memorandum of the total vote cast for each candidate, and deliver a copy thereof to each member of such board. By this it will be observed that the practice of petitioning courts for a recount of tho votes, as was frequently the ca.se under the old law, is abolished under the mandatory clause to burn the ballots. The only ground left for contest Is the disputed tickets uncounted, which will require almost a tie vote to be available. .The new law contains stringent provisions against tho use of money or anything of value to influence voters directly or undirectly, either in nominating conventions or in elections. As they are equally stringent as to hiring persons to do electioneering, or to use their influence in any way, tho occupation of the professional “worker” is gone. Anyviolation, direct or indirect, subjects the candidate to fine, imprisonment and challenge as a voter.. It also prevents him from holding the office to which lie is nominated or elected, disfranchises him and makes him liable to the person hired or bought in the sum of S3OO. It is not safe for a candidate to enter a campaign without carefully examining the new laws, and it will be found advantageous to know the provisions, as the penalties prescribed will be sufficient answer to tho parasites who will demand money of him.