Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1890-02-20
Pope says !.
De no, the flrst by whom the new is tried,

Wlhd
Lstting this oursory review Of the his
tory of the systom suffice, we will now
give some confederation to the sys ems
two principal features-ofioisl ballots,
aud enclosures wherein the ballot Tan be
marked In absolute secrecy. These chief
characteristics of the system are rein
forced by several minor provisions Of
which shall also make mention. The
ballots are printed at public sxpenua by
the stats 10 soma instances, as in Msssa-
ehussetts, and by the counties in other
instances. The printing OF the offioisl
ballot is necsssarily preceded by nomina-
tions Of the ohndidAteg. This may be
done in one OF three ways; by political
conventions or by voting directly OF
primaries for nominees as is now done;
or by nomination papers. Where con-
vsution mskes the nominations, the pre-
siding officer thereof and the secretary
must certify the nominations under oath
TO proper officials, giving the full name
and address OF each nominee; and In
oases where the selection OF candidates is
made by direct voting ut the primaries,
the party'6 executive committee must do
tho certifying in the sams manner as the
officers OF convention.
A nomination paper signed by legal
voters and having its good faith aud
authenticity vouohed for by one or more
of the signers ia the third way of making
nominations. For - state official, eleotors
for President eni Vios president; or
representative in Congress, 400 signatures
were made necessary according to the
proyisiong of the bill introduced into our
last Legislature and n nomination paper
for candidate for any other ofiice must
not be less than 25 nor need 1t be more
than 200 bona hde siguers. Every elector
putting his name to q nomination paper
must add after his name ms address, Civ
ing street and number Of house If any.
The object OF these nomination papers is
to give the people ready redress when the
political parties fail to nominate good
men. The natural consequence Of this
will be that the parties will studiously =
aim to put their best men on the ticket.
| The full address Of the sgners OF q NOM
ination paper Is required in order to
place the responsibility of making nomi-
nstions at some ones door, and thus pre-
| vent nominations from being made for
silly reasons or by men of straw.
Ali nominations for state Offices
whether made by political conventions,
| or otherwise, must be filed with the seo-
retary OF state, and the nominations for
county or hundred offices must be filed
with the clerk of the peace. Nomination
certificates and papers shall be open to
public inspection.
In Massachusetts, the ballots are printed
under thesupervision OF the secretary of
state, but in cost of the other states that
have adopted this system it is done under
the direction of the county clerk. 1 was
told By the secretary OF stats Of Masaa-
| ohusetts when asked which method he
would advise for printing the ballots, he
said that for state not exceeding the
szy OF Massachusetts the secretary oil
state could supervise the matter, but fol
larger state he would advise that the
county clerks be given the charge of the
printing,
The off oial ballot contains name oi
every candidate for each office whethor
nominated by party or by body oi
citizens through nomination paper.
The law requires the candidates to be ar.
ranged on the ticket under the designa
tion of thei office according to the inita
letter OF their surname. This is Il
obyiate any invidioas distinctions, and q
free our parties from the disgraeefu
squsbblas that frequently occur over tb,
question of precedence In the roya
pageants in her majssty's kingdom
Opposite each candidate shall be printed
the name OF his party or some politica
designation expressed in not more tina,
three words, and also opposite escl
name shall be left small margin il
which the voter can mska cross (X)
There shall be az many blank spaces ief
at the end of the candidates for eacl
oflioe AZ there are persons to be voted for
so that the eleotor oan vote for person
not actually nominated, by writing i,
] the name or pssting slip In the blanl
space. On the back of the ticket shal
. be printed the words "O1iciRl Ballo
for" followed by the name of the votinl
I plaoe and ward md precinct il any, an
fGc Binile OF the Official who supervise,
/ the printing OF the ballot. -Four times a
, many ballots shall be printed for an
voting place as there are legal voters o.
) tho list. These ballots whom pripte
8 are to be delivered to the sheriff of th
! county in which they are to bs used. Tn
ballots for any one place are to be evenl
0 divided and put up into two package,
l each fastened with seal, and are to
r delivered by the sheriff to the inspecto
Q of the election OF different limestone Q
: least 48 hours and the other "a hours b,
0 fore the opening Of the polls-and th
said inspector shall receipt for the sam
r to the sherih.
i. Besides the official ballot, the otht
q prominent feature OF the Australian sy
8 tenn ia the booths or oompGr m snts IL
: seoretly marking the ballot. Voting undo
Q this system must be conducted in room
s The room Is divided into two parts by
J. railing; one part of which is for the pttl
lilo and the other part for the electio
! officers and tho booths o. compartment
! The voter enters tho room and prsssn
q himself to the election ofiicers whore
r establishes his rights to yDte As is now r
/ quired by Law. This done he ia give
Q an ofiiiial ballot by the officers and
% admitted within the Ealing whore he r
J tires to vecant compartment or boot
= and marks his ticket, free from ali o
10 servers. He must fold his ticket befo
II leaving tho booth and hand it to Il
is election officer before passing out OF Il
II enclosed space. II he should spoil
n ballot in marking II hs can proou
l. another BY returning the spoiled one.
h There 10 a qusry that this feature
1f preparing tho ticket in Eecl1aion u
!" doubtedly Hnggssts 10 the minds of yc
(. all, and that IS, What will the illitera
10 voter do? VIII he not be virtually di
IN enfranchlaed According to tho pr,
D. vision IN iao7t OF the states at ha'
10 adopted this system the iiliterate or II
d person physically disabled has the pri,
i, lese OF calling upnn oue of tue electiC
e. officers to assist him in msrking his bC
ar lot. This is loop hole in the syster
ia The provision ia the Delaware bill d
w fsred from the others in that it require
,Y two election officers to assist the iliiterA