The morning call., 1892-11-09
TIE AUSTRALIAN SYSTEM.

Voters were not accustomed TO the new
system Of voting yesterday. and the delays
involved provoked criticism. In some Of
the uptown precincts, where the most per-
feet order prevailed, it took an hour and a
quarter from the time the voter reached the
polling booth 10 the time when he was dis
missed with the sacramental word voted. :"
The time allowed for the voter 10 stamp his
tickets in the seclusion of the closet is
nominally ten minutes, but many took
twenty ard some more than that, thus de-
laying those who came after them. There
appeared TO be no way in which slow voters
could be hurried. The stamp provided was
no stamp, but piece of wood like match,
the end OF which had been roughly carved
into a cross. Ii sometimes made q mark
like cross. but more frequently a mere
blotch or blur On the ticket, which was
quite likely to cast an imprint on the white
paper folded against 1t. The tickets were
so large and cumbrous that the ballot-boxes
were full by 8 or 10 o'clock. Votes cast
after that hour had to be Tammed through
the slit with considerable exercise of force.
The method generally, while wisely de-
signed 10 check repeating and personating,
tried the patience OF voters TO such an ex-
tent that the candidates on the tail end of
tbC l4Ghct euHtI6Q. luc Nol6 1OT super
visors and School Directors will probably
be found considerably reduced By the time
the Impractical voter reached their names
on the ticket cries of ''time!" time !" warned
him that people outside were growing i'm
patient, and he himself was growing weary
of his work. 1t is not at all certain that
this is an evil. 1t is not necessary for the
public good that School Directors or Super
visors should poll their full party vote,
while the abolition of thepractice of voting
straight party tickets in their entirety is
obviously benefit.
When the Legislature meets the new law
will probably be amended so as to ccre the
defects which actual experiment has dis
closed. The advantages Of the system are
too clear to suffer its abandonment by
reason Of its faults In detail Ii should be
easy TO cOntrive method of shortening the
time consumed in getting in and out of the
polling booth. a pen or pencil might be
substituted for the wooden stump which is
now misnamed a stamp. The ten-minute
law should be enforced in the interest Of the
majority. a voter ought not to be allowed
20 Keep dozen others waiting quarter Of
an hour while he is hesitating whether he
will vote for the right man or the wrong
one. These defects of detail are all sus-
ceptible Of cure. and at the next election
the machinery VIII be better understood
and will work more smoothly.
II is not so very many years since voters
had to fight their way TO the polls through a
brawling gang of shoulder-h hitters, or since
each party had to place fghtIng-men on
guard after the polls closed 10 prevent the
ballot box being stolen by The minority.
Such playful ebulitions of the political
spirit have passed into history. Except In a
few districts where the henehmen Of the
bosses did most abound every thing was as
orderly as a church-meetiHg yesterday. and
that is the experience at most elections.
In Kentucky free fights at elections are
still kept up as a part of the regular politi-
cal machinery. An attempt to abolish
them would be regarded by a true Ken
tuckian as an invasion of his time hon0red
rights and would be resented by the people
en- masse. But outside OF the dark and
bloody ground the modern American con-
duets his election peacefully and in order,
especially in the new States.