The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-10-29
BALLOT REFORM.

BALLOT REFORM.
In All hut Eighteen of the Forty-FosS
States Of the Union the Australian sys.
tenn. or . ModincA alton Of 1t. Has Beeu
Adopted.
ALBANY. n. Y, Oct. 2a.-It will be .
surprise to many to learn that al. but
eighteen of the forty-four states in the
union will in November vote some
form or other Of the Australian ballot
The eighteen states are Alabama,
Colorado. Florida. Georgia, Idaho,
Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky. Louise
ana, Maine. Mississippi, Nevada,
North Carolina. North Dakota,
South Carolina, South Dakota.
Texas and Virginia The next legisla-
ture Of Kentucky will, under the new
constitution adopted last August. enact
such law, and Iowa. having barely
defeated such laws early in 1891. is
likely to pass the ballot-reform laws
within the coming year. Thus only
fifteen states have made no move to
enact the reform. Maine having passed
law to take effect next year.
The Australian ballot was first tried
in Connecticut and Montana. then
territory, in the October elections Of
1889. At the November elections OF the
same year Rhode Island and Massachu-
sets joined them. making four states
having the new system for that year.
Montana had the genuine blanket"
ballot, with the names of all the candi-
dates on one piece of paper. Connecti.
cut did not come up to the standard with
it's provision for official envelopes
which may not be marked for identi-
fication in any way. The voter can OBJ
tain at the booth ballots OF any polit-
ical party he may DESIRE" but they
must be printed on official paper and
the envelopes must bc indorsed by the
officials.
The full Australian ballot was first
adopted by Massachusetts, As orig
inally enacted the names Of candidates
were placed upon the blanket ballot
and arranged under the designation Of
the Office in alphabetical order, accord
ing to the surnames. There was left
ut the end of the list of candidates for
each different Office as many blank
spaces as there were persons to b
elected to such Office. in which the
voter could insert the name of any per-
son not printed on the ballot for VIII ON
he desired to vote.
The ballots were so printed as to
give to each voter clear opportunity
to de signate by cross, in q sufficient
each candidate, his choice of candi-
dates and his answer to the questions
submitted and on the ballot might
be printed snch words as would
aid the voter to do this, as, vote
for one." '.votc for three" Yes"
No" and the like No voter
was allowed to keep q booth more
than ten minutes, nor more than Eve
minutes in case the other booths were
in use. Voters who were not able to
read and write were allowed assist
ance. The law did not prevent party
! workers from following the voters to
and from the polling-place and press
ing them with solicitations; but this
defect has been remedied by q recent
amendment Rhode Island has .
shorter law than that of Massachu-
sets, and it is not as good
In 1890 nine additional states, In
diana, Maryland. Minnesota. Missouri,
New Jersey. New York, Tennessee.
Washi ngton and Wisconsin, adopted
the new system of voting. Indiana
added to the name of the political
party on the blanket ballot . party
device. Such device may be the fg-
ure of a star, an eagle, plow or
some such appropriate symbol, but
j the coat-of-arms or seal of the state
or of the United States. the ma
tional hag or any other emblem com
mon to the people ut large shall not b.
used as such device. The names Of tho
candidates on the party tickets to b
voted are marked with = cross - in
! Massa chusetts The other states re-
! quir ing the cross were Minnesota, Ten
! nessee, Washington and Wisconsin. In
| Missouri the voter must strike out all
| for the names of which he does not wish
to vote.
| New York is the only state thus far
i that allows the use of q paster ballot
! so that voter with this in his pocket
can fasten it anywhere on the official
ballot and it will be counted. Recent
amendments make independent voting
| more difficult than it was under tho
law of 1890. New jerseys law allowed
! sort of paster ballot to be printed BY
each party at the public expense.
Thirteen more states will try the new
ballot Nov. 5 next They are Arkansas,
! California, Delaware, Illinois, Michi-
! gan. Nebraska, New Hampshire. Ohio.
! Oregon, Pennsylvania, Vermont. West
Virginia, and Wyoming. The latter
state adopted the system while it was
yet q territory; but as il has recently
been admitted into the union it will
hold its first election under this sys-
TEN as . state in Der. Arkansas
like Missouri, erases all the names not
voted for. All Of the other states
named above require the voter to
make cross opposite the names or the
party groups for whom he wishes to
vote. Michigan and Ohio allow party
devices. The voters of West Virginia
may vote by secret or open ballot as
they choose.
A Woman as y Railroad President.
! CLARksBURG. w. Va, Oct 22-At q
meeting of the directors of the Penns-
boro & Harrisville railroad held here
Tuesday Mrs. Hattie NJ. kimball,
widow of the late Moses +. kimball.
was elected president of the company.
She will assume the duties of the office
Ill +.