The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1882-10-14
THE PRIMARY ELECTIONS.
How They Are Conducted in Chey
enne.-Other systems.-A sug-
xestIon for u New ReguIa-
tion In the Republican
Party.

On last Monday evening the repub-
licans of the three wards of Cheyenne
held their primary meetings. Those of
the first ward assembled in u cold room
in the half-fnished building known as
the Phoenix block, corne of Sixteenth
and Hill streets. A chairman, a secre-
tary, and two tellers were elected by
viva voce vote, and balloting for 'dele-
gates to the republican county conven-
ton began. No ticket was nominated,
and none had been announced publicly.
Political workers, however, were on
hand, and the knowing ones informed
the ignorant as to the significance Of
each of the three printed tickets which
were circulated at the meeting. The
balloting was kept up for perhaps three
quarters of an hour, and the safeguards
against repeating, or the voting of non
residents or democrats, amounted in
effect to none at all. Remarks were
made, such as Don't vote more
than three timesl'' which suggested
that the crowd grimly took in the irony
of the situation.
At the second ward primary the same
evening, after the election of officers,
two judges were elected whose duty it
was to see hat none voted but those
qualified. People. voted here in the
dark, however, in more than one sense.
AS in the first ward, balloting was
begun without the name of the candi-
dates being mentioned, and those not
''postedn beforehand went at it blindly.
A single oil lamp stood IN the table, on
which was put the hat into which the
ballots were tossed by the voters. No
line was formed by the voters, but men
crowded up to the table, threw their
votes into the hat, and then squeezed
out through the throng again. In this
way three or four were voting at the
same time, and it was possible for
them to retire and return three or four
known. No proof of membership in
the party was required, and whether a
man was a voter in the precinct was a
question not asked. When the ballot
ing had continued some fifteen min
utes, a motion was carried that the
polls be closed in two minutes, and in
that time they were closed. Hardly
had this been done when gangs of men
began to pour in from outside. 1t was
SAID ;they were free and. easy fellows
who had already exercised the rights of
freedom in the other wards. Besides
those men, however, there were among
who were surprised at the quick work
of the meeting. About one hundred
votes only were polled at this precinct,
while nearly two hundred were polled
in the first ward and $50 in the
third.
81 confess l am ashamed" said a
prominent republican candidate, ."of
the manner in which our primary was
conducted in the third ward at the
court house. 1t was a disgrace to any
party. Repeating was not only posi-
BILE. 1t was done openly. Men voted
there that l never saw before. 1 could
imagine no worse way in which a pri-
mary could be conducted"
In fact, nearly all the Objectionable
two wards were given full play in the
third.
At the democratic primary election
held on Thursday evening, methods
were pursued that were different from
thosa followed by the republicans, but
they were no better.
After the election of officers, at n
meeting with a slim attendance, q
motion was carried that a committee
of five be appointed by the chair to
select a ticket to be balloted for. A
committee WAS therefore appointed.
The printed ticket again made its ap.
pearance in this committee. A
majority made three or four alterations
in it, but a minority reported in favor
of the cut and dried ticket. 1t having
been placed in the hands of all the
democrats present, it was voted by
nearly everybody. The three wards
selected their seventeen delegates to the
county democratic convention by voting
through a ticket printed beforehand
that is, the meeting simply Endorsed
the action of n smaller caucus of politi
cal were-pullers.
A.. a. tla -o,,IN ~ tI,a ,rtD,orfna hn1J