The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-10-15

his countrymen understand the working
of the law. AT this polling place a man
came up in the afternoon, and taking the
envelope and selecting a ticket from those
offered him walked up to the officer in
charge of the box and gave them TO him.
The election officer placed the ticket in
the envelope and was about to deposit it
in the DOx when the voter, being unable
to produce his naturalization papers, was
challenged.
The law was carried out perhaps with
less friction and more to the strict letter
First ward ON Broad street, near Wash
ington Park. This is whore the Ballan-
tines, the Frelinghuysens, the Parkers
and other families of that circle vote.
There met Colonel Michael Barrett and
Barney Ford, the superintendent of the
Capitol at Trenton. Both these gentle
men were enthusiastic in their praise of
the new law. They declared that it had
worked all day like charm and was the
best system yet devised. There the
crowd was kept back the full hundred
feet and those inside the polling place
were said to be watchers.
There was one instance where a blind
man came to vote accompanied by an as
sistant and also a deaf mute. The oath
was administered to the blind mans as
sistant and he was permitted to go in to
the booth and help the voter prepare his
ballot A man was found who under
stood the deaf and dumb sign language,
and he explained the law to the mu te.
In one or two instances men enclosed
their tickets in the envelopes and then
went away leaving it In the booth, while
in one case a voter, after remaining in
the booth several minutes, loudly called
for one of the officers TO come and take
his ballot In the Second district of the
Fifth ward an elderly man went in to
UnfQ md har ho xrac no doH hol q
and envelopes threw them on the floor,
indignant at what he declared was an
interference with his rights as citizen.
STILL THERE WAS BRIBERY.
1t is known that bribery was attempted
in two. wards, but as the briber had to
depend entirely upon the honesty of the
bribed it will never be known whether
the attempt succeeded.
In the Second ward men were taken
into q saloon and paid money in back
room. One of the tests Of the law came
when the count began. The law requires
that only one ballot shall be counted at a
time and that it must be taken out of the
envelope, counted and then put back into
the envelope and strung. This took
double the time and it was long after
midnight when the count was completed.
The election resulted in the choice of
eight Democratic and seven Republican
Aldermen. This is a gain for the Demo
CrdtS anu u1dkeS tQ6 OUaTu, WHICH mas
been Republican for many years, tie
Notwithstanding the roughness with
which the machinery ran in some places
and the violation of the strict letter of
the law, the election was sufficient to
demonstrate the superiority OF New Jer-
sey's ballot reform measure. Newark
has never seen a more quiet election.
There was none Of the pushing and surg
ing about the polls by heelers and work
ers, all deluging the ttmfd voter with
tickets and pastors. Neither were there
any split tickets about, gotten up to de-
ceive unwary voters, and the number Of
those who voted other than they intended
was exceedingly small.
There was also less bribery than there
has been for several years. AS the COM
pla1nant had no guarantee that the per-
son they bribed would vote the ticket
they were paid to vote, but few attempted
it, with the result that the Democrats
gained materially throughout the city
Many of the complications which arose
during the day were no doubt due to the
ignorance OF une provisions Of the law gu
the part of the election officers, for it is
hard to believe that they would permit
the Irregularities they did if they were
acquainted with the penalties provided
for their misconduct. AS to the violation
OF that most important section of the law
forbidding the presence of any one
place the election officers were
apparently at fault. / asked the
policemen in charge of the polls why
they did not keep the crowd back, and in
several instances / was told that it was
the duty of the election officers to order
them to do so. One said that as long as
the election officers did not interfere with
the crowd he did not intend to get his
fingers burned by hustling away the poll
ticians. Every one appeared to be pleased
with the new law except the old school
politicians, whose methods it did away