Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1891-02-05
For the Ellsworth Americana
The Australian Ballot System in Massa-
chusetts.


lature Of Maine, for the introduction OF
what Is known as the Australian ballot
system may make few points in regard
to its practical workings of interest to
your readers. Here we have had four op-
pOrtunties to observe its workings. two
state and two city elections having been
| conducted under its auspices. At first
| glance the system might seem somewhat
| complicated and cumbersome, but little
| familiarity with the details removes that
| impression. Let US start with the ballots.
they are issued by the Secretary of State
| in sufficient numbers to each city and town
clerk Each ballot has all the names of
the candidates for the different offices ar
ranged alphabetically in the order of their
respective Importance. The morning Of
election the city clerk sends by police Of
ticer especially detailed for election duty,
package of ballots, each bearing the GER
titcate of the Secretary of State that it is
an official ballot; this package is delivered
TO the warden of each precinct who gives
the officer written receipt for the pack
age and then the warden becomes person
ally responsible for the ballots.
| The officer also surrenders the ballot
box to the warden This Is a churned
shaped box, to which is attached crank
which turns a register inside the box,
which marks every ballot deposited. Be-
! fore discussing the methods of ballotiug,
] in ari ~ ha ivi nf no
city for election purposes. The city of
| Boston is divided into twenty-five wards
and each ward is sub-divided into pre-
cincts varying in number from four in
| ward ten to sixteen in ward twenty-four.
/ This division gives from three hundred
! and hfty to four hundred voters in each
/ precinct the voting place of each voter
| being determined by his residence on the
I LIST day Of May in the current year of the
election The voting place in each pre-
cinct may be small frame building spe-
/ cially constructed for the purpose, a va
I cant store, or a school-ho The vot-
1 ing place is divided by a rail into two
parts one OF which Is for the voters who
wait their turn, the other contains the
compartments or closets in which the voter
may mark his ballot without being seen by
any one.
We will suppose it is seven O'Clock on
the morning of election day and that every
thing i in readiness and all the election
officers are present. These consist of
/ warden, who has the general supervision,
! the clerk and four inspectors. Two of
the inspectors are detailed by the warden
! to have charge of the check lists which
! contain the names of all the voters who
! are qualified to vote in such precinct.
voter presents himself at the rail- gives his
with the name and address on the check
| list he is admitted behind the rail, bal
/ lot is handed him, he then proceeds To one
of the compartments, of which there are
I six or eight, to mark the ballot. No one
/ can see how this is done. All the names
are on the ballot, he may vote for any can
| didate he pleases and the secret Is his for
| ever. Having marked his ballot he folds
/ IL ~ llit are IuSlbt dtl'l tIit bliIt ldl
| Endorsement appears on the outside. He
| then presents himself at the ballot box to
| deposit his ballot. He again gives his
name ard address which are found on the
duplicate check list in the hands of the
other ballot clerk He then put, the bal
lot in the Slide at the top Of the ballot
| box; the inspector, whose duty il is to
| look after the ballot box. turns the crank
and the ballot Is marked by tine register.
A. the ballot Is deposited the register
turning moves a band with figures on it
which show just the number of ballots
cast The officer who delivers the ballot
box and the ballots in the morning, makes
note of the figures which appear before
any ballots are cast. SO the voting pro-
ceeds from A. NJ. until Z. NJ. Then
the officer makes another note of the hg-
ures which appear when the polls are de
clared closed by the warden.
The ballot box is then opened, the bal
lots counted aloud, the names checked on
the check lists counted. The ballots, the
two check lists and the numbers register
ed on the box should be the same. The
warden then returns the unused, the de-
fective and the cancelled ballots to the
police officer who gives them to the city
clerk The total number of these and the
number of ballots cast must equal the
morning. The unused are the excess over
the number of qualified voters who have
presented themselves to vote. The defec
tive are those that are not properly print
ed, not having the Endorsement of the Sec
retary of State on the back. The cancell-
ed are such as the voter has spoiled in
marking. If he spolls one he may return
it to the inspector and receive a new one
to the city clerk. A voter may receive
three in all in this way, but before receiv-
ing new one, in each case he must re-
turn the spoiled one to have it cancelled.
The ballots are counted as under the old
system. The advantages of the new sys
TEN are found in the secrecy, the lack of
opportunity for fraud, bribery or repeat
ing The man who buys votes may pay
his money but he can never be sure that
he himself is not sold; he may agree to
furnish a certain number of votes but he
can never be sure of delivering the goods.
Generally the voter makes no mistake.
Occasionally man who from his ignor-
ance evidently ought not to vote, will
place his cross opposite every name on the
list in such case, it being impossible to
, determine the voters intention, the ballot
is not counted except as blank, as it would
be ii he had not marked any names at all.
If avoter cannot read he stands poor
chance under this system. For instance,
the three candidates for governor in the
, last state election were Blackman,
Brackett Russell, alphabetically arranged.
, Opposite each name was the name of the
: party, Prohibition. Republican. Democrat
and ON the right of these the little squares
in which the voter made his cross thus ex.
pressing his preference. To do this the
voter must be able to distinguish between
Republican and Democrat, feat which
some of the Massachusetts voters were
ay;daptlx, nno hla m acromnliSh at tho Ia al