The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1888-12-28
secret Voting.

me FhEss suggests one bad usa ,,,,o,,
means y, I. secIet ballot. And that is thai ~
Democratinn "a hepubllcan offcehoder under Y
e hs sDn asc administration might be able 70 Nc
SIpsrlors believe that he voted so. ~ max
This nSas Ior the thrift which follows fawsng ~
eheIe should be many of them 10 baicnat Du
es'r service reform demands selfr ssra y. Irus
press. 'o' 'ne oilceholder.-Ex-
10 true that secret ballot will not nre.
vent Ving. Neither will 1t imbue q mar
WIN sen respect who was born without am
-,elsner VIII 1t establish true sciyil service
eioim, nor save souls from pureatorv
ps' ~ Is NOT recommended for apy Of tbosa
snhss' what It is expected to do Is 70 40
crease bribery and intimidation at elaetions
VIII do this, without causing other ell.
40 great or greater, then 1t is worth ado,s.
ing IL does not seem to admit ~ -.
sna' 'ne Willingness of men to pay ont monev
-, 'o'ors VIII diminish as the chances Ain,
.a'en ., getting what they pay for. II ia nh.
Jus o..s. suat those chances must decrease ma,
- nermits nobody To knou ~,
person mas voted excepp- s.-~. Ano" now
ors, and they sworn to sec nfH aspect
much for bribery Now as re-
CARDS intimidation. That way Of improperly
influencing the voter depends for its success
upon the publicity Of the ballot No en-
pioyer can terrify an employ into voting a
certain way by threat of discharge II it is i'm
possible for the employer to ascertain how
his employe has voted. Under the present
system that knowledge is easily obtained.
Under the secret system 1t will be impossible
TO get. Asecret ballot will therefore tend to
decrease bribery and render successful intimi-
dation practically impossible 1t will ac-
complish, therefore, a great good. Now will
It do any harm to neutralize this good. The
Express fears that 1t may have the effect OF
creating the impression that voting is some-
thing to be ashamed Of 1t seems to us that
the effect would be precisely the reverse.
Now the voter goes into crowded ward
room, frequently blue with tobacco smoke
aud Is Iostled, aud impnrtuned by the vote
distributor until he deposits his ballot. There
is nothing certainly about the ordinary ward
room on election day to impress the voter
with the idea that the ballot Is a sacred
thing. The present method Of voting is anv-
thing but impressive. Under the secret ~
tenn the voter votes apart from the
crowd de is not jostled or i'm
portuned. Everything about him tends
w ihPieeo hl"i Win the ldea that he is about
to perform an act of great Importance and one
requiring calm deliberation. Voting under
the secret system would partake something
OF the character of voting in jury room.
We never heard it suggested that the secre-
cy surrounding that room had tendency to |
make men ashamed to serve on jury.
Another objection offered by the Express |
is that secret ballot implies that men can |
not be trusted to act honestly. Well. every
law for the punishment and prevention of |
crime implies that men cannot be trusted
TO act honestly. The Ten Commandments
given to Moses in the Burning Bush consti-
tuted reflection upon the goodness of the
race, quite as serious as a secret ballot will
But we imagine there are very few mortals
so sensitive as to object to secret ballot ON
this ground. Even the Expresses sensi-
nveness Is very young. Two years ago, il
we recollect Alright, it gave its hearty en-
dorsement to bill to purify the caucus.
This bill contained some very serious refiec
tons upon the trustworthiness of the voter.
1t provided for the arrest and punishment of
persons disturbing the assemblage, thus i'm
plying that the veters were Of sach charac-