The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1869-09-16
Primary Election.

Washington county, in this State, has
just held its first primary election fur
the purpose Of selecting Republican can.
didates for the various county offices.
The full return Of the vote cast in the
several townships, together with the
editorial remarks upon the. result AS
given by the Press. are at least quite
suggestive to counties that are agitatiny
the subject of adopting this method Of
making nominations. And we do not
desire to be understood in pointing out
what we consider disabilities in the sys-
tenn as shown by the case before US,
either to be. strenuously opposed to, its
introduction upon trial, or to think il
utterly worthless; but just this: We do
think that it has no practical al vantages
over the one now in use that are not
more than counterbaIanced by points
Of inferiority, while it is. much more
lengthy, complicated and expensive -"
In introducing the figures that repre-
sent the result of the vote, the Press
ur, -.... .z.
1.-THE county had been thoroughly
canvassed; every candidate was a plow-
share disturbing or affecting in some
way our citizens, who were, in turn,
broken, stirred and sub soiled." ......3 .
The result of this stirring was that
,429 votes were polled in the entire
county, of which Washington township,
(Which is to that county what Center is
to this, east 5O7. We 10 not think it at
all desirable that more than one third of
the nominating power should thus be
put into the hands ola single township;
but such would evidently be the result
Of this plan; anu were it adopted in this
county, the candidate who could assure
himself Of handsome plurality in the
township s containing the largest towns.
where the trouble of getting to the polls
is comparatively nothing aud much
larger proportion of the voters will natu-
rally be on hand than in the country
would be able to laugh at opposition.
Again, II candidate is chosen by very
small plurality over one. competitor,
whilea large member ofvotes are thrown
for one, two or three others, which
must leave those voting for the ones
farthest behind, justly feeling that their
votes were thrown away 81. far as the re-
suit is concerned. Thus in Washing
ton county, one of the candidates for
Representative was nominated by a
,l, ,rl, I,t,
dred more votes were cast against him
than for him. The Auditor had plu-
rality of fourteen, with sixty-two more
against than for him.
Other peculiarities might be noticed
which we do not consider recommenda-
tory; but we conclude by quoting again
from the Press as follows:
"How does the primary election sys.
tenn work? We like it. OF course the
printer does! We printed nearly 10000
tickets. The population of the county
is S,64S. The candidates swung around
the circle q ta A. j., distributing tickets
rs he lavished the constitution and the
flag. This mode is purely Democratic
and is as fair to country as tn town, the
country can always control the nomina
lions ii voters turn out, 1t stirs up the
people more than the old mode. Norni
hating conventions here have of late
years had the dry rot. But the late con
test was by odds more spirited than any
/ political campaign we ever passed
through. The only drawback IS mora
one-the tallest kind OF Icing is iudulg
Ell against candidates. Our vacant
churches must organize all their cngin-
cry and recover the ground lost in this
4 canvass "+ 81. G5 '@5 ts. *h"@