Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1893-03-24
MACHINE VOTING SUCCESSFUL.

has been carried out IN Other COM
with the result Of showing
conclusively that voting machinery
will be the rule Of the future. If
there were nothing else to commend
it, the celebrity and certainty with
which results are announced would
be sufficient. The long and laborious
work of counting the ballots is wholly
abolished. The machine records the
number OF votes as they are cast, so
that when the polls close the work is
finished. Moreover, it fits in admirably
with the Australian ballot system, and
is especially adapted to secret and
intelligent voting In New York
State these machines have now been
tried sufficiently to put them beyond
the category of experiments. The
first test, made at Lockport in 1892,
has been repeated in large number
of towns in different parts of the state,
and the machine used there is Endorsed
enthusiastically by everybody. The
following description of the machine
and the method of using it will be of
general interest:
The machines are enclosed i'll
sheet-iron booths, about frye feet
square. On one side are two doors,
one for entrance and the other for
exit. The voters are formed in line,
and are admitted one at time
through the entrance door by an
inspector who stands beside it. The
voter goes in alone and the door locks
behind him. He sees in front Of him
vertical rows of cards Of different
colors, each bearing the names of the
candidates of a political party, and to
the right of each name knob to be
pressed in. Thus the Democratic
ticket is all in yellow, the Republican
all in red, the Prohibition all in blue.
If the voter is illiterate, he has only
to know the color of his ticket to vote
intelIigently, provided he wished to
vote straight" When the voter
pushes in the knob to the right of the
name of candidate for one Office, he
registers his vote automatically fo1
that candidate, and at the same time
locks the knobs Of the candidates on
all other tickets for the same office
thus making it impossible for any
body to vote for more than one
candidate for any Office. The knobs
when pressed in remain in thai
position till the voter passes out O.
the booth. When he has completed
his balloting by pushing in the knobs
opposite the name Of every candidate
for whom he wishes to vote, he opens
the exit door,which opens only from thu
inside, and in doing so unlocks AGAR
the entrance door, and at the same
time releases all the knobs on all thu
ballots. The machine is thus ready fol
the next voter, whom the inspector il
able to pass in through the unlocked
entrance door, The total vote fol-
each candidate is recorded automatic
ally as the election proceeds, and al
the poll clerks have to do is t.
transfer to their books the totals O.
the different machines used, in case
more than one is necessary in ar
election, verify them, and announce
the result.
At one election, 928 votes were
pol|ed within the time allowed by Law
on two machines, and the result on al
the tickets was made known within
sixteen minutes of the closing of tn
polls. One machine appears to b.
ample for recording 500 votes or NOR
within election hours. The machine
which was urged upon the attention
Of the Minnesota legislature SOM
years ago was essentially the same a
this, except that the booth has beef
added to comply with the new ballo
act. Some such device must take tn
place very soon of the old-fashione'
voting place, and the weary clerk
with their interminable tally sheets
There is no reason why secret vot
and an honest and speedy coup
should not be secured within fe,
years in every state Of the Union b.
the adoption of some voting machine
The cost Of them would be saved yer.
speedily by the abolition of the worI
now done in making up the returns
Pioneer Press.
Ex-President Harrison has bee
rendered the presidency of the Ind
ma state university at Bloomington.
Will Become a Miner.
The Journal Press of Wednesda,
has the following to say witt
reference to Geo. w. Vogel the well
1 known insurance man:
| Gn<, w VS,r.,1 who loft b.,ro Fol,