Morning journal and courier., 1889-05-29
THE SECRET BALLOT LAW.

 Provisions of the Bill as Passed by the
 House-The Manner of Making Nom-
 nations and Preparing Tickets the
 Arrangement of the Polling Places
 ana the Regulations Regarding Vot-
 ing.
 As the secret ballot bill will probably pass the Senate and be signed by the governor this week, an account of the provisions of the law, stripped of its legal phraseology, is herewith presented.
 NOMINATIONS.
 First in interest to the elector are the pro- visions for the return of nominations to the proper officers. Candidates for State offices, for presidential electors, members of con- gress, sheriff, senator, or judge of probate, may be nominated in the usual way, but the nominations must be sent to the State secre- tsry at least thirty days before the day of election, attested by the presiding officer of the convention or caucus. Candidates may also be placed in nomination by nomination papers, signed, when the candidates are to be voted for throughout the State, by 560 electors; in congressional districts by 15O electors, in counties by 100, in senatorial dis tricts by 50 and in probate districts by 25 electors Nominations for city, borough and
 
 legislature. shall be returned to the city, borough or town clerk at least ten days be- fore the day of election, attested in like man- nsr, or by nomination napers signed in mu- nicipalities having more than 10, 900 electors by not less 100 electors; in municipalities having less than 10, ,000 and more than 5000 electors, by fifty electors; where the electors number between 1000 and 5000, by twenty electors; and where there are less than 1 900, by ten electors. Destinations of nominations may be made in writing to the officer to whom the nomination has been returned within two days after the time limited for such return, and the party originally making three days after notification.
 THE BALLOTS
 The ballots for offices, nominations to which are returned to the State secretary, shall be provided by that official and be sent by him, at least one week before the election, to each town clerk. These ballots shall be uniform in size and quality of paper, shall bear the names of all candidates. orouped according to the ofice and in the order in which they are received by the secretary and shall designate the politics of each After the names of candidates for each office, a sufficient space shall be left in which to write the name of candidate. On the back of the ballot will be printed "of6cial ballot," ''gen- eral ticket"
 Ballots for municipal elections shall be furnished by the clerk of the municipality and shall be similar to the general ballots. On the back will be printed 'official ballot" and the words representatives" 'scity off, cers," "borough of6cers' or "town officers,' D as the case may be. Separate justice of the peace ballots will be provided. The ballots shall be folded in the shape in which they are to be voted and shall be fur nished in blocks or pads of even hundreds Twice as many ballots as there are registered names at each voting place shall be delivered to the moderator by the town clerk tor the clerk of the municipality within one hour and not less than ten minutes prior to the opening of the polls, taking receipts there- for. In the event of deficiency the mod orator may obtain more on a sworn state- ment.
 THE POLLING PLACES. We come now to the polling places. There must be one for each 800 voters, so arranged that a portion of the room shall be separated from the remainder by guard rail or rope, with openings for the entrance of voters at one end and their exit at the other. In the enclosed portion of the room there must be at least five retiring compartments within which person may be secure from observa- tion, and each compartment must be furnish- ed with a shelf or table, pencils, pens and ink, and printed directions Gin such language as the State secretary shall deem proper) as to the preparation of ballot by an elector In towns having less than 1000 votes only one voting place may be provided, but there must be a retiring compartment for each 100 voters.
 A table for the use of the registrars and persons officially appointed to check the registry list, shall adjoin the guard rail at the entrance, and the moderator shall assign positions outside the enclosure and near the entrance to one representative of each politi- cal party nominating candidates that may de- sire to keep check list. After the polls are opened no one will be allowed within the enclosure except the moderator, registrars, box tenders, official checkers, peace officers, when called upon by the moderator, and as many electors as there are retiring compart- ments.
 THE MANNER OF VOTING.
 When an elector has been admitted within the enclosure and his name checked, the moderator shall deliver to him a ballot Cor one of each kind if there are more than one), across the back of which he has indorsed his own name. The elector will then retire to a compartment and prepare his ballot by plac-' ing an X in margin to the right of the name of the candidates for whom he wishes to vote. He will be allowed five minutes in which to do this, and if, at the end of that time, he nas not done so, he will return the ballot to the moderator and leave the en closure. If he should mutilate or spoil the ballot he may return it to the moderator and receive another. He must fold the ballot in the original crosses, lay it on the ballot box in such a way that only the endorsement upon the back shall be visible, and leave the enclosure.
 Any eiector physically unable to prepare his ballot, or who shall swear that he was an elector prior to November 19, 1855 and can not read, may apply to either registrar, who shall, under the observation of the other reg istrar, prepare the ballot as directed by the elector, but the directions must not be given in such manner as to be heard by any except the registrars. A penalty of from $10 to $100 may be inflicted for the giving of any advice as for the party to vote for, or the suggesting of the fitness or unftness of any candidate in the polling place, except as in- dicated above.
 Only the indorsed ballots shall be counted, and whenever more candidates for any office are checked than may by law be eleeted, or when there is doubt as to which candidate for any office the elector intended to vote, then such ballot shall not be counted for any candidate for that office.
 Any person who shall fraudulently obtain an official ballot or counterfeit it, or who shall take from the polling place an official ballot may be fined from $500 to $1 ,000 and imprisoned not less than one nor more than five years; and any election officer who shall obtain knowledge as to how an elector voted and shall disclose such knowledge may be fined from $100 to $500 and imprisoned not less than six months nor more than one year.
 Ammonia, alum, lime, and all other caus- tic chemicals introduced into baking pow ders are injurious to health. The lady ana- lysts impart, free of cost, to housekeepers, methods whereby these drugs can readily be detected.
 COMMITTEE ON STREETS. The Ordinance Regulating Assess.
 meRts for Top Dressing of Streets
 May be RePealed-A Uniform System
 Wanted.
 The committee on streets were in a sort of 1aak ninhk hr1k araruthincr