The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1888-11-06
STEALING THE VOTES.
How it is Done on The Day of Election
Men Who Make Profession Of Counting
Votes Fraudulently.


steal an election. There is a gang
about each political machine that
makes study of fraudulent voting.
1t has come to be profession among
a certain class. So skillful have these
vote thieves become that few of
them can make difference of from
1000 to 5000 votes in the great total.
And often that decides the contest.
1t is shameful to what lengths po-
itical despoilers have gone to cheat
the people out of an honest count of
votes The following are some of
the methods employed by the pro-
fessional vote thieves to steal votes,
and which will be practiced in many
a large city to-day:
METHODS OF VOTE ROBBERY.
A citizen comes up to the polls to
vote. He is a respectable man and
has his ballot in his hand, and gives
it to the inspector to be deposited in
the box. This inspector takes it.,
holds it In his right hand in plain
sight of the citizen, just over the hole
in the ballot-box. While one of the
clerks is looking at the register to
find the citizens name q man outside
suddenly challenges the citizens
vote. The citizen turns his eyes from
the ballot in the hands of the in
spector and Indignantly faces the
man who challenges him. Then
the inspector gets in his work. He
has his left hand in his coat pocket
at his side, and quietly draws it out
with ticket between his fingers. He
drops his other hand with the ballot
that the citizen gave into his coat
pocket on his right side. This change
is made while he slightly moves his
body, and it seems that it is only an
innocent movement. The indignant
citizen who has been challenged has
had his eyes off the inspector, and
when he looks again there he is
standing about as he was before, witt
ballot in his hand ready to drop il
in the box. The citizen either swears
his vote in, or else the confederate
on the outside withdraws the chal
lenge, and then the clerk reads of
the name and the inspector drops the
ballot into the box and the citizen
moves on. His vote was changed
while he stood before the inspector
That is trick that is played very
often. Some professional workmer
get as skillful at it as the most adep
three-card sharp is at his game
There can be no doubt that it will be
practiced ten thousand times to-day
CHEATING in COUNTING.
II the precinct board is packed
there are q dozen ways to count a
man in or count him out, just as the
bosses dictate. There is one plan
that was adopted in '84 with telling
effect, and which will be repeated
again to-day. 1t requires some skill
on the part of the inspectors, but
there are men who can do it without
fear OF detection. After the polls
have been closed and the counting
begun the votes are numbered by the
judges and their initials are placed
on the book of the ballot; then the
inspector reads off the names and the
clerks tally on the books. AS the
inspector spreads the tickets out and
runs his hand over it to smooth the
creases, he stops at certain name
and by slight movement of his FORE
finger he draws mark through the
name with small bit of leadpencil
glued on to his forefinger, which he
can use just as well. There is then a
light leadpencil line over one of the
names and that name is scratched
and not counted.
FALSIFYING RETURNS.
There is still another way of falsi
flying the returns; and it is even more
potent than anything that has YET
been devised: When the count OF
the vote begins two clerks tally the
votes as they are called Off by the in
spector. 1t is supposed that one
clerk is Republican and the other q
Democrat, and that they will be
check on each other. But when
the bosses agree to divide the offices
between them the clubs are told what
to do. They are selected TO record
the will of the bosses and not the will
of the people. The inspector reads
off the names one by one; the two
clerks are in collusion. As Tie name
of one candidate is read off, the two
clerks record the vote for his oppo.
nent. The clerks sit side by side, OF
sit on opposite sides of the table; q
slight nudge or quiet tap with the
foot gives the signal for the false en-
try. By false entry a difference oi
5000 votes can be made in the total
A combination of the bosses makes
this method the easiest way of falsi.
flying the votes, although it can read
lily be discovered by an honest re-
count in court.
In New York the ballots are burned,
according to law, when counted,
which leaves the defeated candidate