Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-07
BAKER LAW DEFECTS.
County officials and Politicians
Studying the Measure.
BREMEN PROPOSES A NEW PLAN
He Thinks Political Parties Should Relieve
Election officers. ~
MISTAKE OF A TRANSFERRING CLERK

As it eexpected that the insane asylums
must be enlarged when the Baker ballot
law goes into effect, convention was held
in the Clerk of Courts Office yesterday aft
ernoon for the suggestion of remedy for
the confusion that disarranges the mentality
of election officers even under the present
system of registration of voters A
number Of addresses were made, but
the only suggestive ones were
those of W. J. Bremen, Clerk of
Courts McGunnegle and Captain Dalgleish.
The latter thought the Baker law should be
repealed, and all agreed that it was very
cumbersome and that arrangements to carry
it into effect would be very expensive, and
it isn't much of an improvement anyhow,
but as it is not likely to be repealed, and
the expense must be incurred anyhow, be-
fore the next Legislature meets, Captain
Dalgleish was ruled out of order.
Mr.. Bremen suggested that as most of
the trouble at present came from the max
ing of defective afidavits, that the duty of
filling out blanks should not be laid on
election officials, especially in view Of the
fact that even judges of the courts might
find the present blanks difficult to fill cor
rectly without the experience gained by .
clerk in regular business of this sort.
The Parties to be Responsible.
Mr.. Bremen proposes that the duty Of
filling out the blanks he imposed on the
political parties Each could have man
for the purpose and the voter after his paper
had been made out could then 60 before the
In6o 1f -
were defective his party would suffer. He
said that under the present arrangement,
the time of the election officials was some
times taken up to an extent that interfered
with the proper conduct of elections
He thought that as the State
first provided that the register
make an effort to find and register the
voters, and then gave the latter the further
chance of going on a stipulated day to
certain place in. each election district to
make certain of his registration, it was ask
ing too much of election officers that,they
should be the victims of all voters negli-
gence. He held that parties that wanted
their votes cast would insure correct fill
ing out OF the affidavit blanks if the duty
were laid upon them. L..
D. K. McGunnegle thought the best plan
of all would be to require each voter to
present himself for registration 60 days be-
fore election, and in default, be debarred
the privilege of voting at all. This, he
said, would accomplish all that the affidavit
did, as if the voter did not make clear his
right to vote to the satisfaction of the regis
trar there would be no further controversy
A Supposed Defect in the Law.
A dispatch received from Harrisburg
yesterday said: A comparison of the Baker
ballot bill, as agreed upon in conference
committee of the House and Senate, with
the same bill as transcribed and signed by
the presiding officers of Senate and House
and the Governor, shows that very mate
rial error crept into the twenty-fourth sec
tion.
'This section as originally passed read !
that each voters name shall be checked
on the voting check list by the officer hav-
ing charge thereof as soon as he has cast
his vote, but the transcribing clerk in
serted mot, making it read each voters
name shall not be checked etc. The !,
law has been printed as it was signed, /
with the mot in it, but it is not supposed
that it will affect matters, as. polling Of 4
fcers are expected to keep check lists and
check off voters to prevent repeating"