The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1878-06-12

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their appreciation of his efforts.
AT meeting of the County Com.
mittee held on the 10Th ult., w. E.
Lathy, Esq. offered a resolution look
ing toward change of that part of
the Crawford County system which re-
quires the throwing out of the vote Of
township or election district when it
appears that three or more Democrats
have voted at the primaries in said
township or election district. The
change proposed is, that only the Dem.
ocratic votes be thrown out, and the
balance of the vote be counted as u.s.
ual. This question is to be voted on
at the coming primaries, and we think
it proper and right that we should ex-
press our views on the subject.
The aim Of the Crawford County
System is to have the nominations
made exclusively by the party, hence
this provision. No man runs for an
Office in either party but has friends in
the opposing party who wish to see him
nominated, and are willing to stretch
point to help him. Such persons
present themselves at the primaries,
and offer their votes if they are ta.
ken, to the number Of three or more in
a township, the vote of the township is,
by the system, required to be thrown
out. How does the resolution offered
propose to remedy this disfranchise-
ment of large number OF voters
Simply, when counting up, by throw
ing out the votes of those Democrats
only. There is only one practical way
by which this can be accomplished,
and that is by numbering the tickets
and the names on the tally.list to cor
respond Herewith. The effect of this
is to destroy the secrecy of the ballot,
which is the strongest point Of the sys-
tem. The officers at primary elections
are not sworn are under no obliga-
ton whatever not to reveal the way
any person votes. The consequence is
that this works to the disadvantage of
large number Of voters, who now vote
as their conscience dictates, who, were
the change made, would be subjected
to annoyance and distress by parties
who hold some advantage over them,
provided they did not vote to suit the
fancy of those who thus had them at
disadvantage. How a person votes
can now be only matter of conjec-
ture; if the change were made it could
be brought down to a certainty, and
the consequence would undoubtedly be
that the nominations would be made
by the few holding this power, instead
Of the mass of the party, voting fear
lessly, because Of the protection they
are now afforded by the secrecy of the
ballot. Our opinion.is that the rule is
correct as it now stands. Persons who
are put on primary election boards are
supposed to know the politics of the
persons who vote at their polls, and
if they do not, it is part of their busi-
ness to get evidence from those who do
know. There is, in our estimation, no
way to secure pure election except
to throw out the entire vote of those
election districts where the primaries
are not conducted according to the
rules. Let Republican nominations be
made by Republicans, and Democratic
nominations by Democrats, for what.
soeyer is inconsistent Herewith SAVIOR.
eth of fraud.
We have expressed our opinion on
this subject week sooner than we had
intended, to allow those holding oppo-
site views time to put them before the
public previous to the primaries. AS
much space as is occupied by this ar.
ticle will be allowed next week for the
PRONUNCIATION of opposite views.
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