New-York tribune., 1871-11-24
TO PURIFY ELECTTONS.

There can be honest elections, even in this
City; for we had legal vote and an honest
count in at least three fOurths of our polling
districts this year, and there is no absolute
impedlmcnt to securing like result in every
district. Here arc some suggestions toward
The law which Is needed:
/. Every inspector Of elections shonld be
sworn to take care and be certain that no
ballots are in any of the boxes when the poll
is opened, that mono get in after
ward except as the voters legally cast
them, that he will himself challenge and
question any one who attempts or offers to
vote whom he knows or suspects not to be n
legal voter in that district or to have voted
already at that election, and that he will
neither miscOunt the votes himself nor permit
another to do it without resisting and cx-
posing the fraud When the official rcturn is
made ont, each inspector should be required
20 swear Cor affirm) that it is a correct and
true account of the votes actually cast. Any
fraud committed by an inspector or connivcd
at by him should be declared felony, sub
lccting him to confinement at hard labor III
State prison for term OF two to ten years
accordiu. to its lesser or greater cnornlity.
Such section would of itself diminish frauds
in voting and counting Ivy at least onc-half
The INSPECTORS should he required to make
| LEGAL list OF the voters i'll their respective
, Districts to be completed and published eight
DAYS before each election. In making this list,
they should take the poll-lst Of the preceding
election as a basis, first striking OF the names
of all persons known or proved to them to
have died or migrated since that election. and
then adding the name of every person known
to them, or any of them, rs at tins time
legal voter Al who Will have b' come
legal voters on or before the day of the
ensuing election should be included among the
additions to the list In rural districts, the
names on the list should be placed in alph:,
betica order; in cities, they should be ar
ranged according to strcct-numbcrs. beginning
at one corner of the district and proceeding up
that side of the boundary street, then down the
opposite side of the next street, and so OF.
The mere inspection Of pOl-!ist framed
would tell whence illegal votes might be cX-
pectcd. Any one proposing name to be
placed on this list should be required to swear
that he knows the person thds proposed to be
legal voter and due record should be
made of the prOpOScr's name ana oath.
The personal attendance of no voter should
be r,qurcd; but the inspectors should
he required to place on the list the name OF
every one personally known to them or Thus
LEGALLY attcstcd to be a legal voter. And the
list thus made up and atcStcd by the inSprc-
tors to be complete to the best of their
knowledge should bc publicly posted, and should
be open to scrutiny by every voter, who should
be authorized to copy it should he see fit.
This list should be the official register of legal
voters in said district, and prima tacie evidence
| that those whose names were borne thereon
| were entitled to vote. Whoever saw fit to cha-
| lenge the vote of any one so registered should
be required to state sprci)ic reason. such as
false pcrsOnatOn not yet OF age, not citizen,
not long enough resident OF the State OF the
County, or some other objection fatal if sus-
tancd
No person not thus r, gistcrcd should be per
mitted to vote while any registered person
| who had not yet voted should be present
Offering or waiting his turn to vote; bnt, in the
absence of such, any unregistered legal voter
in the district should be authorized 10 present
himself, ballots in hand, backed by two free
| boldcis in the election district, and upon their
oaths that they personally know him to he a
be pollcd and the aflidavits aforesaid daily re-
corded and preserved.
Such are the outlines Of an election law
which, in our Judgment, would secure lis pure
and fair elections without infringing or OBJ
structing the exercise of any legal right, or sub
jccting any one TO serious trouble or incOnvc-
niencc. If further legislation is neered to
guard and vlndicatc tho right of each candi
date to watch the poll and the canvass in
each election district, either in person or by
proxy, that legislation should be had.
We trust our new Legislature will meet
fully impressed with the Importance of this
subject. Vainly shall good citizens he cxliorted
to vote at each election as a matter Of prn
cip,c and patriotic duty if it be not rendered
morally certain that their votes will not be
swampcd by those of repcaters and by the
ncfarious arts of miscountcrs and balloXbox
suffers.