Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1891-03-09
TIE AusrR.LrAn BALLOT.


u ca y stalstItE< - @s'tEksrr H-ts-
| whsr s.rs- here this -sus.r sn.i rI-tl
| tkoss stl,s 4ss t9tag oFnGs--s 70 siS< bsiis
| they ssis, For Hrsvei.s .<ke ra4x- some
| rry. i.,sts III lie rili 30 e-lIsre lse rnall
| sasss i pi4ntx,ions- ant sYgasd AL the
| r-cub.<. sss.s voala b. occssisasd IN the
small plat .rlons II the nershsrn and east
srn easf Of The Slsie sb-se fe~ voters
gather together snd exSrsss .hsie vii ny
| tie ballet because they would be obigsf
Is 80 through all the ceremonies OF
| that some call . cumbersome bal snd
the farming so~ns. they aid, didnt need
t. There vas 70 bribery ard no i1Emi-
...ioz ia tina firsnisg tswss and EoFerer Il
might b. ia the eitles snd larger tosns,
there was 10 need Of il in the smaller TO sns
OF this SEat@ believe thAt tbs people Of
Maize you'd AK AZ the hxnds 81 The Legs
i..nrs fair test believe tina. the people
Of Maine wcusd not ask CT expsc. tie
/ LegJ.lsfgre to require ali the small town q
| and plantations and villages whether VII
| ing " sssinss their viii 70 ADOPT this
sy.tern Of voting. But because We hsse
snswers4i their prayers aud bsesass the
bill bxs been shorn Of the very cb-
| / .cfiors ~ bich they urged against II, tbs
/ c5me in nor, having re-ffzmsd their tos
aud say shat they are more bitterly OPP
posed TO it N is present form than they
eere before. thiak that there is no mao
upon the 4 ,or Of this House IL he sreaks
his sentiments honestly and openly via
~Iii aot say thar for q thai aad test until
| tbs Is stem caa be put into thorough ard
| tactical operation in the state /. 10 fair aud
. right tia. there should be a line drawn
| soma where The line of 2 800 az Suggested
| by those who present this bill iaciudes cut
81. E.tT ~ frh. ~ sas
G5s 600. All CT che cities and all Of the
larger toSns, a lnsj GRITTY Of the inhabitants
| Of this State, are made. whether they will
or not, 10 come under the provisions Of This
bill. and besides tha, 10 the furthe; per-
mission 10 the bill that towns, a, their own
uptiob, il they want il. shall have the right
not ofteHer than once gear 10 vote upon il.
and adopt i, if they please. The objection
is made BY my friend from East Mschias.
reinforced by my friend from Fort Fair
| 1elj thst vhe-e our Representatives a-e
located In class de ~ic's 1t may and will
happen that some of the towns will vote in
| accordance with one system and other
towns of the same class VIII vote in &C
e)Idsbcs with The other. What difference
does it make? The votes are counted the
sane, the returns are made en- precisely
| Ehe zane kind and piece Of paper 10 the
same officers aud with the same r. sult,
wheEher they are deposited in the ballot
box by one system or the other. The bill
now under consideration does not IN the
slightest degree change aoy provision Of
the law as 10 the counting and the masking
of The returns of the votes. But, say cur
/ friends, This is q cumbersome hill, and
no Que can understand it One
of the cumbersome things which have
| been pointed GU. is in regard to
10 the manner of m.king nominations and
the other of The cumbersome things is in
regard to the exercise @. the right Of suit
frsgs by the voter. All that you have to
10 IS TO have your party IN its caucus ard
| convention make the nominations JUS: the
same az they have during all these 20 years
past ard let the president o, secretary Of
the conyet tian sign it, make oath t. i and
forward i. TO ,hs officer AID the uoInins
lion i, insde. When yoa coGae 10 those
men outside Of any party vino would have
ballots and tickets of their own, thtre are
provisions ho~ they can have their viii sx-
pressed, f ,hey like. But 81 out Of 100
of the nominations made 10 be act ID up III
at the polls are made by parties ard It is
| Just as simple as it can possibly be. After
| the nomination is mad ihen the oth -i,i
deals with tie inskir Z up of the ballots NJ d
the ballots are distributed ard the voter
has not abythiug to do after that
| " ia the daty OF the city clerk
ard of the secretary of State to take care
of all these det.its. AID | warrant you, Mr..
| Speaker, that That secretary will not have
t. study sny hsr,er over the provisions OF
th.s bill ,stan .he Grjinsry municipal officers
IN ci les hxve to study over the law which
provides for the posting ard correcting of
the check lists ia order to determine what
! i. due us under that law. When you come
| to the voter and he wants to know what TO
DO, all he will have TO do il 10 read jus;
about seven lines in section "a and that is
all On receip. of his ballot, and wtEout
lesving The enclosed space, he shall retire
| atone to one OF the voting shelves or COM
pGr,men.s so prov led and shall prepare his
ballot. ii be wishes to vote the party ticket,
"a most men do, he simply makes ont
cross against the name of the parry. Is
there soything ia that system which the
voter of ordinary intelligence csnroe un-
dsgs,s1d: IN the case of one of ihese kick-
ers, Of whose rights some of the members
are so tender on this floor. he must 60 p
step farther and emitting to msrk the
name Of the party he must place cross
lie wishes 10 vote ard if there be no such
name printed on the ticket lie has the ,igh
TO name ard write any candidate of us
choice and mark inst. But my friends saw
there are COT stitutional objections to t8is
bill. II il be unconstitutional, that is no
reason why We shall not accept
the majority report of The Coz
mittee ard then make il constitution g,
Bar here IS the fact aad here IS the Law ~.
by the l6h section which was read, !, il
provided that "the Legislature may by Law
sulhorizs the dividing of towns having nos
less than 1000 inhabitants That Reaches
every city in the State of Marie except
llallowsll. That reaches all of the larry,
tnwrs in the State dawn to 1000 inhab.tants
ard mtkes section 90 the obno xious sec-
ton, srictly and perfectly constitutional
I'll us bexrtrgs "Msy divide them into
voting distrirs for election of Represea a.
lives to the Legislature and prescribe the
manner in which the y0ies shall be receiv. d i,
counted and the result of the e'ecti n
declared Cpdsr 1000, aye, there's Il e
rub. Under 1900 IN tovns. they say,
the selectnen cannot divide into polling
districts, There is no need thai
they shall. They talk about man
coming in0 the voting plsc. and sying
ton minutes IN s town o. 700 voters 70 vote .
10 Massachusetts the Australian system is
in Ceariv its OF; xinal form and every votar
must check every name for which he
wishes II vote. Uoder the system PROPOSED
here, siug.e ms'k viii. indicate the voters
choice, and you may have seven men ct
least making single mark at time. The
voter IAN at these seven shelves prepare
more ballots ard prepare them faster than
ti'e warden and one clerk caa PAT them il
TIE ballot box aud check the names on the
check list, an3 theIe is no doub: that tplce
.C0 can vote at 3 polling place in day.
10 Massachusetts,. where th lave mark
for every name, they vote 36J IN tas,
G'd if man goes in and stay. ten
minutes o: five minutes and thereby
0hatrucs the le2si process Of voting.
h. does it in uilfhl defiance Of the spirit q
tie law. There is smother ding in regard
70 this system which is proposed. The
sroutiog If candidate 10 party columns on
a sirgle TICKET has been adopted by ma
joriy Of lie committee, why? Because,
- we understand the UNDERLYING pr neiple
of the secret ballo. system has simply two
features. One is that q vc:er, when he
exercises the right Of slff.sse, shsll vote
in secret by himself. and the const q lie nee
is that when he votes he .hsll use an fl ci al
ballot prepared by the State in order .hs,
under no circumstances, except in case of
fraud which may arise il the operation OF
any law whatever, under no cir
cumstsnces shall he vote ballot
which somebody else has prepared for
c.