Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1890-09-30
THE NEW METHOD OF COUNTING
VOTES,


THE NEW METHOD OF COUNTING
VOTES.
Elsewhere we publish an article ex-
planning the method of counting votes
cast at elections in this State, as provided
under the law passed by the last Legis-
lature and now in force. While at first
glance the system will appear somewhat
complicated, little study will make clear
what is intended to be accomplished by
the law.
1t is evident that the new method re-
quires intelligence of a good order in the
polling booth. That this is a requirement
in the interest of honest elections is unde-
niable. That there should be business
and clerical capacity in Election Boards of
superior order is at all times desirable,
for the entertainment of the will of the
people as expressed at the polls ought to
command good brain capacity. 1t is
proverbial that in the past there has been
great deal of laundering in counting and
certifying the results of elections. This
has been due to lack of intelligence in
Election Boards. We have known of in
stances in this county where men of sup
posed fair business capacity serving as
officers of election precincts, having before
them return blanks on which were printed
instructions in the simplest language pos
sible, SO clear and explicit in statement
and direction that child should not
misunderstood them, have yet sent up the
returns full of errors, sometimes unsigned,
frequently untitled as to several material
blanks and not infrequently without the
totals being computed.
With the more complicated system now
established by the law it follows that we
should have election officers of special
ability. Indeed, it might not be unadvis-
able to have an official meet all the cleo
ton boards Just before election day and
explain in detail the duty incumbent upon
them. However, if a fairly intelligent
man will take up Mr.. Story's demonstra-
ton, which We print this morning, and
carefully read and digest it, he cannot go
astray if called upon to act upon an Elec-
ton Board. The purpose of the new law
is to greatly lessen the labor of counting
the ballots, to very materially shorten the
time necessary to make returns, and by
intermediate announcement of the state OF
the ballot to close the door to possible
frauds in computing the totals. 1t is no.
torious that results have often been
changed fraudulently after the count was
made or during the process of counting. 1t
is claimed that the new system in large
measure prevents all such crime.
The features of the new law are, in
brief, the placing of the ballots of the po-
liticaI parties in separate piles, the
scratched and the unscratched ballots be-
ing piled up separately and tied in such
bundles. The ballots in each pile are then
to be counted aloud and a record made of
the number. Then all the straight bal
lots are strung securely, tied anew and re-
turned to the ballot box. All the by
ISLANDERS are thus informed of the basis, as
starting point, of the strength of each
ticket. Suppose that the sum of all the
Republican ballots in a box is 100. That
is the basis of the strength OF each candi-
date on that ticket 1t is now to be deter
mined how many times the names of the
respective candidates have been scratched
of, and how many times each has been
substituted on the opposing ticket for that
of his opponent. The result as to each
candidate can then be determined in a
very brief time and with unerring accur-
acy.
Let us suppose that B is candidate of
party, that his party ticket has 100
ballots in the box, that BIS name is erased
20 times, substituted so times, and that on
scattering ballots the name appears 10
times. We take 20 from 100, leaving 80,
we add 80, making 10; we add 10 on the
scattering tickets and we have BIS net vote,
40. 1t is provided in the law, as bar
rier against fraud, that as soon as the total
ballots are ascertained, the erasures and
the substitutions and the scattering votes,
a bulletin Of the figures shall be posted
in the polling booth, another outside for
the general public, and another sent to the
Office where the Great Register has been
made up. This must be done before the
net results are figured up. By this means
the public and the County Clerk receive
information that makes changes practically
impossible, and that prevents the PERM
cious habit, to a great extent, of gambling
in the form of betting and hedging on the
results as the count progresses.
Mr. Story, the author of the law, gives
an instance of the time and labor saving
under the law as illustrated in application
of the new law to the municipal election
in San Francisco in 1888, surprising II to
have then been in force. The total vote
was $4,000 On each ballot there were 81
names, total of 3,855,OOO names to be
called and tailed. It is estimated that
one half the ballots were unscratched-in
all 1880. The average scratches on each
scratched ballot were ten, or 275,Oo0
names. The same number of substituted
names appeared, so that there would have
been only $4,000 names to be called and
tailed under the new law, as against
3,955,000 under the law in force in 1855
a saving of 2,SO5, 600 calls aud taIlies had
the present law been then in operation.
BOARD OF EDUCATION.