St. Landry democrat., 1882-08-12
THE ELECTION LAW.

There has been much ado oyer. the
quantity Of work done by the leslsla-
ture. Let US look at the q"dhty OF some
of it. a,n.
ing. and the Governor 10 approving anu
signing act No. 101, relative to elec-
tons, have done thing winch places
the Democratic party, OF the State III
false position, and which VIII lneVlta-
bly bear bitter fruit to those puollc men
who, by such acts, intend to perpetuaIe
themselves in power. Ihere IS 1,otiilhs
in the whole range OF radical leslsia-
ton under Warmoth or Il ellog, that IS
worse than this piece OF leglsIatloh. III
looking back over the republican re-
oime. the Returning Board act has
s snrt If ' had nre- eminence, but the re-
nnblicans had at least, the plea OF party
necessity to Justify the act. The pres
emf legislature and the executive have
not even that poor plea to make, be-
cause the party to which they belong
holds securely the reins or power.
There is not even a pretense OF rear
of the republicans coming again lhto
mower. Let US briefly look at some OF
the features of the bill.
Section 90 of the old election law pro,
vides, THAT all names OF persons voted
for shall be Writlen, or printed on one
ticket. on which the names OF the per
sons voted for, and the office for which
they are voted shall be accurately spe-
Cited" etc.
Section of the new act provides ):
"Be it further enacted that section 20
Of the same act be amended and re-en-
acted so as to read: That all the names
of persons voted for shall be printed
on one ticket or ballot OF white paper OF
uniform size and quality to be tu'N'sed
bu the Secretary OF State, etc.
That is to say, the voters ,of.thls coun-
try will no longer have the privilege
of ,criting upon their ballots the names
of persons they wish to vote Tor, ana
they are not to be allowed to vote al dn'
unless they offer ballots printed on pa
per furnished by the Secretary OF State.
70 uhom is this State officer to fur
nish this ballot paper, and phen is it to
be furnished 2 Why is the citizen to be
denied the right of making his own
t ticIet and and wby are the paper ballots re-
onired to be Of uniform size
The Secretary of State, it he carries
ont the intention of this act, will fur
nish the ballot paper Of uniformly small
size. so that the names to be printed on
#. will fill up the whole surface, leav-
ing neither margin or interstices, for
the voter at the polls to avail himself
of, should he try, in defiance OF the law,
to write upon a ballot, names OF his
own choice. We saw tickets here at
the last election so closely printed with
the names upon them that it was I'M
possible to get in an interlinatlOn.
| That was good trick, but could be
easily evaded by any person choosing
to write out his own ballot. Now,
however, the citizen is headed off com
pletely, and he must vote the printed
| ticket furnished him, or else cannot
vote at all. The voters of the country
are to be put in straight jackets, like
lunatics. The trainers of this scheme
evidently intend to hold their grip on
the State, and they are afraid to allow
a fair, independent expression, at the
ballot box. If this be not the purpose
will somebody explain what these fea-
lures in this bill mean? The law de-
nounces fierce penalty against the
Secretary of State il he does not
hand in the returns by a certain time
butt there is no penalty upon him fol-
failure or refusal to make a fair distri-
button of the ballot paper. It is left
entirely to his discretion as to achat per
sons shall be furnished with the paper
and at what time. He may furnish
it to one applicant, and he may with
hold it from another. If he should see
fit to furnish it in bulk, to the return
the case would not be bettered, because
these officials, under the law, are DC
more obliged to make timely distribu.
ton of the paper, than is the Secretary
of State-and this brings us to another
astounding feature in this remarkable
piece Of legislation.
By section II of the old law, the pc.
lice juries had authority to establish the
precincts and polling places, and 10y
section thirteen they also appointed the
commissioners of election. Under the
old law also, the sheriff was the return
ing officer.
Sec. of the new act, makes sweep
ing change. Here it is: THAT section
So of the same act be amended and re-
enacted so as to read That for al
elections in the several parishes. til,
parish of Orleans excepted, the Gouer
nor shall appoint q, Returning Office
for each parish, vho shall appoint TIL
Commissioners of Elections, and desig
nate the polling places i" each election
precinct"
Having taken away from the vote
the right to make, and vote his owl
ballot, it was next in order to provid
for the successful enforcement of th
law. A sheriff elected by the peopl
and responsible directly to them TO
, his official conduct no longer SCENE,
to be fit returning officer and in lik
manner the police juries, presumabl,
elected by the people, are no longe
to be trusted to appoint the commits
sioners or designate the polling places
Indeed, it was not to be expected tina
these servants of the people woul,
do what this law intends shall be done
The henchman of some local politician
who happens to have the ear of tn