Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 18, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 January 1890 — PROTECTING THE VOTE. [ARTICLE]

PROTECTING THE VOTE.

Workings of the Massachusetts Election lav. Leading Bntares of a New System of Bal-loting-—The Citizens Believed from the Importunities of Politcal Heelers and Ward Bummer* What is the first desideratum in “a free ballot and an honest count” would appear to be the perfect secrecy to the ballot, and this is vouchs fed by the Australian system of voting, as it was practically tested in Massachusetts at the last election. The operation of the. system itself demonstrated its extreme simplicty. Everything having narrowed down to the action of the individual in choosing his favorite Candidate, all he is required to do is the mere scratching of a cross upon a sheet of paper. In Boston there were no crowds about the entrances of the polling places. Women i.nd children kept away because there was nothing to be seen but a string of men walking in and out of a building. Men did not loiter qboutthe places, because there was no prospect of any row. Within the inclosure was the police officer in charge of the good order of the polling place nd seven election P.ffiCttEa.. The only othcr within the railing were the voters who were marking their ballots, or, in case the she Ives we re full, an equ a I nuin be r of men waiting for places ..t the shelves. The process of voting was almost invariably this: The citizen placed himself at the bar which was placed across the entrance, and upon question gave his name and residence to the election officer at the entrance. A reference to the poll list, which was printed and arranged alphabetic illy, showed whether or not the applicant was entitled to vote in the precinct. Upon his name being found, the officer in charge of the check list at the entrance would call out “Foundl” and the voter was admitted. He was then presented with an official ballot. This was taken by the voter to the series of shelves at the rear of the room. These shelves were portable, and with ordinary use will be available for similar purposes for a dozen years. They are built upon a foundation shelf with a backing of a board, which is so binged with the horizontal one that it may be folded over it The partitions between the spaces used by the voter are hinged to the vertical board, so that they may be folded. Thus, when these shelves are packed away for use they occupy no more storage-room than three boards would were they laid upon each other. , The shelves are supported by so I din g horses. With in th e space between the partitions, with its head and shoulders sheltering his ballot and his pencil to the persons who were poss i blyyffeaffE'tire voter completed his choice on the ballot and at once after an average delay of three minutes, walked to the table at the left of the room, at which he again gave his name and residence, which, if again found upon the duplicate check list, entitled him to place his billot in the self-registering box. Then the voter’s duty was concluded and he departed through the exit. An “ideal” municipal ticket arranged after the Boston plan of ballots; would be about as follows: CITY . Official Billot for . - Armi 5, 1891. - - F ' — . Clerk. To Vote mark the square at the right of namfi Mayor. Vote for Ova. Rettob Retnlap Democrat William Weckbolden...Republican ’ J. L. ThrowithProhibitionist Joseph Hutgreen. .. .Labor ~ City Treasurer. Vote for Ox£ "M.C. Na Ido mac. Democrat, Frani Bergam.....Republican Edwin Brownlee....Prohibitionist Paul Kaugrott Labor There were magy schemes used to “beat” the reform system • in Boston, so far as it was carried out at the polls, but it may be said to the credit of the shrewd minds which perfected the law these almost all failed. In the most thickly populated wafd in Boston, the one, too, in wuich there is the greatest proportion of illiterate persons, the average timi it required for a man to verify his right to vote in toe pre’.-io receive his ba lot, mark it, repeat his name and residence, deposit his vote, wait for the b >x to register its number and. m ike his exit from the inclosure, was three minutes.