The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1868-09-03
Yeas and Nays.
rFrom the New York Post.1

80 From the New York Post
There is about to be put up in the As
sembly Chamber at Albany, under the
supervision of Mr. Beardsley, one of the
inventors, a machine called the Vote Re
corder, which is intended to save great
waste of time in calling the ayes and
nays. One third of the whole time oc-
cupied by the session of the Assembly of
this state is, under the present system,
taken up in calling the ayes and nays
This Includes usually not merely the call
ing of one hundred and twenty-eight
names by the clerk, but the repetition of
the names of the absentees, and the fur
Their REPETITION, to avoid mistake. of the
names of members who imagine their
vote was wrongly recorded.
During the session of 1867 the ayes
and nays were called sixteen hundred
times, and wasted FIVE minutes each time.
During the calling of the various names
the members are idle, or naisily convers-
ing with other members, and the whole
business OF the house Is thrown into con-
fusion. The latter part of the session is
almost entirely taken up with the contin-
ued repetition, over every insignificant
bill, Of l2S names.
1t is re luired by the Constitution that
the yeas and nays shall be taken on every
bill which is to become law, and under
that clause they can, of course, be taken
either by the voice or by some method of
more rapidly recording them. 1t often
happens that when fifty or a hundred
bills are rushed through in one day and
the Clerk IS engaged in monotonously
calling the roll over and over again, that
not dozen members know what bills
they are voting on, and not half the
members who are recorded in the AFR
native are IN the room at the time, or
have ever read the bill which is passed
Tue bill usually relates to some local or
formal matter and goes through really by
consent, though the form Is preserved of
calling every man name upon It's pas
sage.
By means of the machine which is to
be put up III the Assembly Chamber the
members will vote simultaneously. There
is dial like large face of eloek to in
dictate the yeas, and another to Indicate
the nays. These dials contain the number
OF all the members, and each pulls a knob
communicating with the dial by wire;
his number flies out as he pulls, and he
sees that his vote is recorded. If he
desires to change his vote he does so by
request 10 the clerk.
By turning little cradk the hand on the
dial is made to point out the number of
votes that have Ieen cast both for and
against the bill and by another simple
process the names of those voting both
an the affirmative and negative are print
ed for the use of the clerk on a slip of
paper. The whole process of taking the
vote, recording 1T, and printing the names
does not require more than halfa minute.
In that way over a hundred bills can be
passed in an hour
The last session of the Legislature was
heightened for several weeks beyond the
hundred days, solely for the purpose OF
passing bills The haste with which 1t
WAS necessary to pass them prevented the
usual precautions of referring them to
committees and passing them through the
Committee of the Whole, and their
proper discussion and consideration was
out of the question. Three long sessions
morning, afternoon and evening, were
held to give time merely to call over the
hist of members.
The inventors of the Vote Recorder
have computed that it will save the state
more than It's cost In shortening the
session, even at the present rate of pay
ut three dollars day, and that it has
still more economical aspect in allowing
the careful discussion of bills and prevent
ing hasty legislation.