Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-06-02
THE CHANGES IN THE ELECTION
LAWS.

The late Legislature made several
changes in the election laws, all of which
are steps in advance and bring us nearer
to the complete revolution in our system
of conducting elections that the friends
of reform look forward to. We are con-
WINGED that the changes made last winter
are not generally known, or at least that
their high importance is not fully realized.
Now that the smoke of the late session
has lifted, it is timely and of public i'm
portance that the amendments be thor
oughly understood, and to that end SIM
pie statement Of the law will be found
valuable. Members of Election Boards
are to be paid for their services $40 each
and no more, thus removing the tempta-
ton to delay in the counting of the ballots
IN order to increase the per diem reward
When the Supervisors shall order COM
plete re-registration of the voters of the
county, it must begin 100 days before
general election and cease. fifteen DAYS
prior to the day of the election. Under
the law as it stood, six months notice was
required, by publication, of such intended
re-registration. There is now no provis-
ion for notice of the intention of the Board,
an omission that is unaccountable. The
Supervisors must now divide the county
into precincts, to embrace not more than
200 voters to precinct. 1t was formerly
$50, and even then was not strictly COM
piled with. In our own county the law
was practically ignored and pre-
cincts bounded that embraced 500
and 600 voters. 1t is unlikely that
any such defiance of the law will again be
tolerated, since the spirit of the people is
manifestly in favor of small precincts and
rapid counting of the ballots. The Super
visors or other Boards whose duty it is, are
now to appoint the Election Boards fifteen
days before any election. They must con-
sist of judges, inspectors and clerks, two
each, who must be evenly divided among
the two political parties that at the proceed
ing election cast the largest vote They
must be able to read and write in English.
and must be listed upon the assessment
roll. In addition they must not have held
any official position in the State within
ninety days preceding the election. 4
person appointed to serve on the Board of
Election who refuses or neglects to do So
without good excuse, is liable to fine of
$500, or imprisonment in default of pay
ment. This provision is intended to meet
the cases Of the good citizens" who avoid
their duty, and it moves upon the same
plane with the compulsion to serve upon
jury, or to do militia duty. 1t is provided.
also, that no polling place shall be located
in saloon, or in building in which
liquors are sold, or in building connect
ing with a saloon by door or window;
provision that had become necessity, be-
cause of the apparent mortgage saloons
seemed to have upon the polling places in
cities. A wise provision is that which re-
quires the judges, clerks and in
spectors to relieve each o'her in counting
the ballots, thus forestalling the possibility
of mistakes through the WEAKNESS Of the
Election Board. and because of the want of
sleep by its members. 1t will be observed
that the Clerks Of Election are not now 10
be appointed by the Judges and Inspect
OTIS, but are independent officers and receive
their appointment from the Supervisors
thus reducing very much the liability OF
fraudulent practices. The obligation of
the Clerk is not to the Board of Election
besides il renders the shifting of Clerks
less ikely-a process that in the past has
been source of and means for covering
crime and corruption. Instead of the polls
remaining open until P. NJ, as heretofore,
they are to be closed at T. NJ, a sufii-
ciently late hour, now that not more than
two hundred voters are to be embraced in
one precinct. There was a great deal of
contention in the Legislature over the pro-
vision concerning erased names. 1t is
provided that If an erasure on a ballot is
made with other than a lead pencil or
with ink, the erasing and substitution are
to be ignored and the erased name
counted, if it can be ascertained from the
ballot, and this fact must be noted upon
the face of the ballot by the Election
Board. To that point the section
is as it stood before amendment.
The Legislature extended it by adding
that where a voter grasses a name on bal
lot and substitutes no other for il he must
write opposite to the erasure the words "no
vote" and if he fails TO do so the erased
name must be counted if it is possible to
ascertain it. This provision will prevent
the frauds that have heretofore been per-
petrated by the use, on the part of some
of the election officers, of bits of plumbago
which they crossed out the names Of can
didates they desired to defeat, as the bal
lots we're handled and counted. 1t should
have been provided that the erased name,
if so mutilated as not 10 be decipherable,
should be ascertained by reference to the
vignette of the ticket, and be deemed to
be the name of the regular nominee of the
party that filed the vignette. In addition
to these changes in the general election