Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1892-09-26
.RMONT HAS NO NEED OF 1T.

e believe that Vermont does not
b the Australian ballot law. The
thine may be useful in far away
tralia, and, possibly, in some
ked region nearer home, but for
Enlightened, fairly moral state like
the law has more disadvantages
necessities. For more than a
dred years the people of this lit
state have been voting by the old
|hod, and there has been in all that
cd little or no complaint in reg ard
N he old method, and only in gen
tion, perhaps, has there been an
st for illegal practices at the bal
box In ninety nine towns IN a
Mdred in this state, men are as
from trammel and extraneous in
#nces at and before the ballot boxes
hey are in the quiet of school
Srict meeting. The rule is that cleo
Us are fair, free, just and that men
their preferences as fully under
old system as under the new. Why
people dislike thelawis because it
6umes that every man is dishonest.
e in order to shield him from the
be, or the eye of the political strik-
br somebody else, he must be plac-
behind screen or rail, where he
be out of the reach of the striker
he vote buyers. The law presumes
there is not town in the whole
|e where men can walk straight
as they please and deposit an
lest ballot. 1t has not been onr
fortune in more than thirty years
ing to see bull doing, or fraund
wrong at the ballot box, and we do
believe other men have seen it.
he law not only casts a reproach
byery mans manhood and charac-
NJ but it imposes quite tax upon
W town and the state; it is cumber-
Ne. engimatical and difficult. 1t
hpels the average man to study it's
Visions, and then guess at it's mean
1t practically disfranchises many
b who do not, will not, or cannot
Bter its intricaces. 1t is said that
re should be a school of instruction
bvery town, where man can be
.ght to vote. But what need of
|? Why not the old way that need
beither school, card of instruction,
Philadelphia lawyer in order to
his vote into the hands of the box
Her?
here is little doubt that the the
shut out by incorrect markings
usands of votes at the last election,
kept at home thousands of voters
ause they did not care to run the
d tape" line required by law.
|se men were not SO ignorant as
to have a political and personal
ice in the matter of candidates.
is said that the ignorant who can
master the enigmas, to them, of
law should not vote. The consti-
on of the state, does not make il
Facy great or small bar to voting
M the man who cannot tell whether
blanket ballot is rights0r wrong side
has just as good right to vote as
most learned men in the common
18th Men are not SO constituted
10 have a keen desire to advertise
r ignorance. They Will not invite
ballot clerk to read for them, or
|oint ont their duty while inapris-
Ia behind the curtain or the rail.
aking of the present law every
who saw its working at the Septem
election knows that it needs a
of amending and changing to
ke it practical and convenient. In
Ft towns quite large per cent. of
rs were wrongly marked or des-
red, even when the voters wishes
e seemingly understood, on ac-
ht of a technical error in
method of marking. Legislatures
H. no right to take away mans
right-that Of the ballot, by SO
llging up his way to the ballot box
he cannot vote as he wishes to
p If the fashion" now prevailing
Waving aforeign ballot system must
INTO use in this state, let the law