New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1890-11-08
THE NEW B4LLOT Law.

The recent election in this State demonstrate
cd that the Ballot-Reform law when was
passed by the last Legislature is to be resaru-
cd as great public benefit 1t is generahy
conceded alike by Republicans and Democrats
that the law worked admirably; that the new
system of voting was vast Improvement upon
the one which it superseded, ana tha' 'nc poi''
were guarded against bribery ana corr"p'ioh
and disorder as they never were before III
word the law met the best eXpectauoii' proving
as good in practice as in theory.
Nevertheless one or two amendments hiish.
render the law more efficient instrument vi
the popular will The twenty-iifth section
proyides that after preparing his ballot ana
before leaving the voting booth, the voter snail
fold all the ballots delivered to him III 'he
middle lengthwise and then crosSwise, Dut III
srch a way that the contents OF the paiio's
shall be concealed and the stub can be removed
without exposing any of the contents oi .iic
ballots" There was 4 good deal OF dlSSa'is-
faction expressed by last Tuesdays voters with
this provision of the law. They protested that
they ought not to be required to fold thus care
fully any OF the ballots except the one Whlch
they intended to vote. In some parts OF thls
city the voter was compelled TO take with him
into the booth no fewer than eleven ballots, ana
if he did not happen to be dextrous in folding
them he emerged from the booth strong in tho
conviction that the law asked too much OF him.
WHY not amend the section in question so "a to
meet This criticism? 1t has been suggested
that if the Inspector of election from whom the
voter receives his ballots should be required
10 fold the ballots before delivering them, the
voter would be gamer. 1t has also been
suggested that the voter should be allowed 10
return the unvoted ballots face down without
folding them at all. 1t may be added that but
for Governor Hills Obstinacy, there would be
no such difficulty to contend with. The org
inal SaxtOn bill provided for blanket ballot
containing all the names to be voted for, the
voter to erase the names for which he did not
desire 10 vote. The Governor refused to sign
the bill so long as it contained this provision
and accordingly the blanket ballot was dropped.
Another section of the bill which provoked
dissent on Tuesday provides that no person
shall occupy Q. voting booth less than three nor
longer than ten minutes So far as we have
heard this requirement was pretty generally
disregarded. If voter had his ballot ready
in less than three minutes after entering the
booth he at once proceeded to the balOt-box.
| If it was not ready in ten minutes after enter
ing the booth he tarried there until it was
| ready In either case he escaped censure from
the election officials. 1t may be well to pro-
| hibit a voter from occupying booth more than
| ten minutes but it is difficult to understand
what good end is served by requiring him to
stay there at least three minutes. II he finishes
his business in two minutes why make him
waste an additional minute?
| The contest over the Congressional election
| in the XXVIIlth District emphasizes another
| defect of the lava more serious one. Colonel
| Moves the Republican candidate, was reported
as elected Tuesday night. On Wednesday the
| inspectors Of elections made another count, and
now announce that MIR. Rockwell the Demo
cratic candidate, has been elected. What is
the explanation? 1t is believed that access to
the ballOt-boxes OF the district was obtained
after the original count was taken, and that
pastors were placed upon sufficient number
| of Moves ballots to elect Rockwell. The orig
inal Saxton bill shut out pastors, providing fOI
| ballots furnished by the State, and no others
But here again the Governor proved STUN
| bling block. lie gave it to be understood that
he would veto any Ballot bill which provided
only for official ballots. The pnster, there
fore, was a concession without which ballot
reform would have failed entirely at the last
session.
If the next Legislature were to be Repub-
can in both its branches there would be good
reason to expect that the new law would be
amended so rs TO meet the main objection,
which have been mentioned. But Demo
cratic Assembly can be depended upon to dc
whatever Governor Hill tells it to do. And he
is certain to tell it to stand by the paster anC
TO oppose the blanket ballot. In fact, it i,
useless TO hope for ballot reform at its bes
so long as Hill occupies the Executive chair.