New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-02-24

least OF all themselves. Inc Reporters NANNY
register from the grog shops; and any one VINO
will may satisfy himself that at least ninety
nine in every hundred of these are Democratic
recruiting stations. Go where you will, from
Maine to Texas or Oregon, and the keepers OF
grog- shops are Democrats, with scarcely an
exception. To assert that they organize gangs
to vote repeatedly the Republican ticket is to
proclaim that you do not wish to be believed.
And in fact, if they could be hired to do so,
they must fail for want of tho raw material.
The loafers and rowdies who do the illegal
voting would exact ten times as much for
voting the Republican as the Democratic ticket,
and even then would often manage to smugge
in Democratic ballots.
Within the last two years, not less than five
hundred persons have been caught in the act
of illegal voting here, and arrested therefor
What became of themP Ask John III. McCunn
and other Democratic Judges who promptly
set them at liberty; ask A. Oakley Hall ana
Samuel b. Garvin, whose duty 1t was, as DIS
trict- Attorneys, to find indictments and prose
cute them. Can you imagine that they would
not long ago have made examples of the de-
tected culprts, if they had not known that
every hundred illegal votes polled swells the
Democratic majority by not less than ninety =!
Have they ever prosecuted half dozen fraud
ulent voters to cOnvictionf
We urge every Republican in the Lcgisla-
turc to act and vote with any and every fac
ton of the Democratic party who will do or
propose aught to prevent, or even diminish
Illegal Voting, whether by repeate.s or other
wise. And here are our suggestions for out
lines of the legislation required:
I. Each Inspector, Canvasser and Poll-Clerk,
to be required, before entering upon his official
duties, to take a solemn oath, whereby he
pledges himself to do all in his power to make
the election fair and just expression of the
will of the legal voters. To this end, the In
spectors should swear that they will take no
vote that they do not believe to be legal I'M
less constrained to do so by law, and will
promptly report to the proper officers any per-
son who shall vote or offer to vote illegally, with
intent to have him punished therefor also, that
they will deposit no vote, and allow none to
be deposited in the ballOt-box that is not
duly proffered by and accepted from legal
voter; and when they hand over the boxes to
the canvassers. they shall swear that they con-
tain none but votes duly and legally cast. Let
the canvassers be likewise sworn that the re-
turns made by them shall be just and true
account of the votes contained in the boxes
when placed in their hands; and let the clerks
be sworn TO report to the canyassing board
any unfair and illegal act of either inspectors
or canvassers, whereby the result is affected.
Q. Make it felony, punishable at least as
severely as burglary or forgery, to falsify the
vote OF any election district, whether by voting
illegally, stuilng n ballot-box, miscOunting, or
conniving at any fraud whatever.
3. Punish any one who hires or incites an
other to vote illegally, miscount, or stuff ballot
| boxes, the same as though he were the imme-
date perpetrator of the fraud.
| 4. Swear every District Attorney that he will
do his utmost to bring to justice every one
who oilcnds against the purity of the ballot
box.
.. Make il msdcmcanor in any judge OF
other magistrate 10 do aught whereby falsi-
fer of the popular verdict in any election is
screened from deserved punishment.
Such an election law as we have here
roughly outlined would do much TO arrest the
| avalanche OF illegal votes whereby the voice
of the people of our City has for years been
! submerged and perverted. Give us such an
act, with provisions for its enforcement in de-
ianco Of need be- of Oakley Hall & Co., and
we may once more have something like n rea
| election in this City. If the Democrats will not
| help pass such an act. let the Republicans nj
| least show that they are not responsible for its
/ failure.