Lawrence democrat. (Lawrenceburg, Tenn.) 1884-1925, 1892-01-29

evening. When any candidate gets the
necessary two-thirds the sealed sig
natures are opened to make sure that
no unauthorized person has voted
Then the election is publicly an
nounced.
This carefulness, however, is moth
ing to that which was used in electing
doge of Venice. The Venetian legis.
lators, despairing of getting an election
which would not be controlled by poll
ticians' intrigues, called in the lot as
their helper,
When doge was to be elected the
great council of between four hundred
and five hundred members was called
together. Those below thirty years of
age were shut out and the names of the
rest were written on slips of paper A
small boy was then picked up on the
street and brought in to draw out thirty
names.
Out OF these thirty, nine were chosen
to go on with the election. They were
to choose forty others. Four of them
nominated five each, Ave of them four
each, and each of the forty must be
confirmed by two-thirds vote OF the
nine. Out of these forty names twelve
were taken by lot
The twelve in the same way chose a
new board of twenty-five, the chair.
man nominating three and each of the
others two, three-fourths vote being
necessary to elect Lots were again
drawn for nine of the twenty-five.
These nine in the same way chose
forty-five others, of whom the lot
picked out eleven.
These eleven, still in the same form,
nominated forty-one to elect the doge
Each of these must be confirmed by q
majority vote of the whole of the great
council Then the forty-one were
locked up together to 60 on with their
election. While they were locked UP
each OF them was furnished with what
ever he asked for regardless of ex.
pense. But the same must be given to
each of the forty-one.
For instance, there was once an
elector who wished to read in "Aesop's
Fables" He got his book, but not un.
til all Venice had been ransacked to
find the necessary forty-one copies
At-another time one of them ordered a
rosary, Forty-one rosaries made their
appearance in due form.
This treatment was expected to make
the electors so unanimous that at least
twenty-five of them would agree on a
doge. When this took place the rig.
marole was over. An evening news
paper, trying to follow the returns in
Venice at that time, would have had
painful times,
Coming back to the ballot as used by
common mortals, and coming down to
this century, the Hungarian ballot OF
thirty years ago is one of the most in.
teresting. The voter had given to hin
a stick from four to six feet long. With
this he went alone into room where
the ballot boxes were placed, each
bearing the name and color of candi
date. In one of these he must place
his stick. The object of having such
81 poAiOO wa w IldhC sure Una
there were not two or three extra ones
concealed in the citizens pockets. Blu
this has now been replaced by prosai,
paper.
In Greece, at the present day, tn,
ballot is little lead ball. There Is 1
box for each candidate, divided intt
two compartments. A clerk goes from
box to box with tho voter, carrying
bowlful of these balls At each DO,
the voter takes one, puts his hand int
a funnel out of sight, and drops hi
ball into the yes or no compartment
making vote for or against the can
didate, If he wishes to vote for NOR,
than one party there is nothing to pre-.
vent him.
In Italy each voter on registering
gets ticket of admission to the poll
ing house. Here stamped blue pa
per, with copy of the law printed OF
the back, is handed to him. On th
paper he must write his vote.
The French ballot system is mucl
like what the American was five years
ago, England uses the Australian bal
lot N Y Evening SIM