Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-28
BAFFLED BY BALLOTS.
The Peoples Party Enter a Protest
Against the Letting of
BIDS FOR PRINTING THE TICKETS.
What Reformers Will Have to Contend With
in the New System.
LOCAL POLITICS BEGINNING TO BOOM

| LUCAL PULl1lCO DEUlNNlNU ~ DUUl
G. A. Burrows, Secretary of the County
Committee of the Peoples party, was seer
yesterday and asked what he thought Of
the specimen ballot sent out by Secretary
of State Harrity. He said: "The Bake,
ballot law is intricate, incongruous and un-
satisfactory to all parties concerned. Hen
sci himself doesn't understand it clearly.
All the parties are trying to make the best
way out of the difficulty, and how well they
succeed will only be known on election
day. HensePs latest specimen ballot, as
has one heading for each of the two old
parties, but only one to specify the candi-
dates of all the other parties. By Hensel's
decision the candidates of parties who are
| compelled to get out the ticket through
nomination papers 60 in one column in
alphabetical order, irrespective of the
parties, if it should take six feet of paper to
do it. They mix up all the candidates Of
the nomination parties, and let the Repub-
lican and Democratic parties stand by
themselves At the heals of the groups
there are small spaces where voter can
make cross and vote the entire group.
Work for the Populite Voters.
'The Democrats and Republicans can
vote for 80 electors by making one cross on
the head of the ticket, but Peoples party
man to vote the same number will have to
make 80 crosses and go to the trouble OF
hunting his candidates names out of the
long list If this is not unjust discrimina-
tion, what is it?
''There is a phase of this ballot system
that appears ridiculous. It may not occur
this year but next year, should the Amer
ican party, the Socialist Labor party and
Victoria Woodruff come into the field, the
ballot is liable to be so long that it will re-
quire a reel of paper so that 1t can be
manipulated in the 1S-inch space given. This
year the ballot will likely be Sc inches
long. have been informed that the So
cialist-Labor party has its nomination pa
pers on file. This party, with the Prohibi-
tion and our own party, will have all their
candidates names printed in one column,
unless some change is made. The ballot
will be trailing under the voters feet while
he is marking it.
"We sent this communication to County
Commissioners and Controller. The docu-
ment explains itself:
Notice to the County Commissioners.
Referring to advertisement in the news
papers this morning calling for bids to print
ballot sheets for the coming election. sUpon
inquiry at your office we learn that you
assume the specimen sheets upon which
proposals will be made are the exact SIZE
matter and form of the official voting sheet
We beg leave to protest against such
assumption, because the sample sheet does
not recognize the very probable insertion of
the Peoples party nominations.
The Peoples party have complied with the
law in regard to nomination papers, and ex-
poet to have their ticket printed on the Off
cial ballot sheet in due form. This will
necessitate a larger sheet and modified from
the sample, and, while we are aware that the
Board of Examiners at Harrisburg may or
may not approve the nomination papers till
expiration OF 10 days previous to the elec-
ton, we deem 1t only proper that all whom
it may concern should be fully advised of
changes which may be costly in non-observ-
ance or neglect.
'The Peoples party will have candidates
printed on the ticket for Presidential electors,
Congressman at large, Congressman from
three districts, two State Senators and eight
Representatives from Allegheny county.
We have our nomination papers on file in
the Secretary of the Commonwealth office.
We sent them there on September 16 and
shortly after received a letter from A. l.
Tilden, Deputy Secretary of the Common
wealth, acknowledging receipt of the
papers and informing us that they had been
placed on file We have 2,210 signers to
our nomination papers in Allegheny county
alone"
More Than Enough Names to Nominate.
R. A. Thompson, of Indiana, Pa, State
Chairman of the Peoples party, said: 1--WE
nominated our State and electoral ticket at
Franklin convention on June %. We i'm
mediately proceeded to get signers to our
papers. To show with what success we met,
we got 10000 names-the amount required
to have the names printed on the ballots
being only 2,040. The number of signers
obtained in Allegheny county alone would
give US the right to have our candidates
names printed. The first specimen ballot
was gotten out before any convention was
held in the State. The last one was made
This is the only reason can give for our
party not appearing upon the specimen
sheet.
eff the candidates of the parties putting
in nomination papers are printed in
column, alphabetically, without respect to
the parties to which they belong, cannot
see how the powers that be are going to
reconcile their action with that section of
the Baker ballot law which states: That
voter may designate his choice of all the
candidates of political party or,group by
one cross mark in the margin to the right
of the party name or political designation
equivalent to mark against every name in
the group"
To-day aF2 o'clock the time for receiving
bids for the printing of the ballots closes
The new tickets are worrying the printers
nearly as much as the Commissioners. The
firms bidding spent most of the day in the
Court House figuring on what work will be
necessary TO get the tickets out.
A Big Printing Contract.
The order for this county is $50, 900 tick
cts There will be 440 changes required in
the forms, as the heading must be changed
for each precinct in the county, and no
ticket of one precinct can be used in another
There are not $50, 900 votes in the county,
but in each precinct 30 per cent more tickets
must be printed than the number of regis.
tered voters shown by the registry lists
The Commissioners are requiring the
printers to bid on two separate forms. They
have not decided yet whether the tickets
will be printed according to Attorney Cen
eral Hensel's letter, placing the nominees
Of the Prohibition, Labor and Peoples
parties in single column, or to give each
OF those parties separate column, the
same as the Republican and Democratic
nominees get The prescribed width of
the ticket, according to Mr.. Hensel, is IA
inches and its length "a inches. If all but
the two big party nominees are placed in
one column the tickets will be five feet
long. II the Commissioners give each
party separate column the tickets will be
% inches wide by "a inches long, q sheet as
large as an ordinary newspaper page. The
printers are bidding both Wavs so that