Rensselaer Republican, Volume 18, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 February 1886 — ENGLISH VOTING. [ARTICLE]

ENGLISH VOTING.

1 • • How Elections ore Conducted in England. British or Irish polling is conducted much after the New York methods. It has been preceded by registration lists, which are exhibited in public; by opportunities for- scrutinizing and'objecting to namts thereon, and by perfect copies after the lists are settled and attested being delivered to the President or Chairman of each poll and his clerical assistant. The voter finds provided, on polling day, a booth or building containing several rooms and of easy access c to his residence—within one or three miles, according as it is suburban or rural. There are ballot-papers, which must be printed and cannot have writing on them, but these are exclusively supplied by the legal authorities. There are ballot-boxes, where ballots are received in order of presentation. The days of polling vary in localities and according to the discretion of the returning officer, who consults the usages and habits of the locality; but the day must be within nine days after he has received the crown mandate, and three days must elapse between his issuing newspaper notices or his handbill announcement and the election day thus announced. On this latter day the nomination of candidates in writing first takes place. No one can be voted for unless duly nomiated. If more candidates are nominated than there are places to be filled, the election is adjourned for a poll next day from 8 a. m. to 8. p. m. On this day of nomination the returning officer apportions the poll expenses among the candidates, and they either pay or give security. These expenses vary according to the number of voters, from £IOO to £I,OOO, so that, as is obvious, poor men have little chance of being candidates, These expenses are never chargeable to the public treasury, and include every item of proclamation and poll expenses. The poll President may remove any person misconducting himself, and, if required on behalf of a candidate, ask the voter whether he is the person whose name appears on the register and whether he has voted before, and may administer an oath to confirm the answers. The ballot paper contains a list of the candidates nominated. On its being delivered to the voter it is marked on both sides with the official mark, and the number of the elector in the register is marked on the counterfoil. The counterfoil and the ballot-paper have corresponding numbers, so that, while the ballot-paper itself does not disclose the voter’s number on the register, that number can still be traced incase of a scrutiny through the other number on the counterfoil. The elector enters a compartment of the polling-station, marks the paper with a cross oppsite the name or names for which he votes, folds up the paper and puts it in the ballot-box, which at the commencement of the proceedings has been shown empty. Every precaution is taken throughout the" voting to maintain the secrecy of the ballot by imposing penalties and otherwise. This is a fac-simfle of the inside of a ballot-paper:

1 CHURCHILL. X 2 CHAMBERLAIN. -- f If more candidates are running theij* names are printed and numbered again consecutively 3,4, 5. 6, Intitials are only used 'when two of the same name are running. An -X is placed in the space on the right of the name of the candidate for whom one wishes to vote. If a voter deals with a ballot paper so as to make it useless the presiding officer may give him another, and the first ballot-paper becomes and is marked a “spoiled paper. ” A further duty of the presiding officer is to mark the ballot paper of illiterate voters, after they have made a declaration of their illiteracy, to place their papers in the box, and to enter the name and number of the illiterate voter in the list of votes marked by the presiding officer. At the close of the polling the presiding officer makes up and seals the ballotboxes, the nnused and Spoiled ballotpapers, the tendered ballot papers, the marked copy of the register of voters showing the voters who have voted, the counterfoils of the ballot papers used, the tendered voters’ list and the list of the illiterates’ votes marked by him. These packets are delivered to the returning officer of the district, and are to be accompanied by “the ballot-paper account,” which accounts for all the-ballot-papers issued to the presiding officer. v The countiug of the votes takes place before the returning officer, who, after opening the boxes and recording the number of papers in each, mixes all the papers together. He may reject ballotpapers for the want of the chairman’s official mark, or because too many candidates have been voted for, or because they are uncertainly marked or not marked not all. He has also to verify the ballot-paper account and forward it to the Clerk of the Crown with all the documents sorted. These papers are retained for a year and may be inspected by order of the House of Commons or of the High Court. • .*■ The last duty ot the returning officer is to make his return. This is done by indorsement on the writ of the names returned,, and the writ is then sent through the post to the Clerk of the Crown. —Lon Cor. Neid York Herald.