The Portland daily press., 1893-03-22

voter to unlearn system which he has
become toIerably familiar with and learn
another with the inevitable consequence
of much confusion and many mistakes.
First, it tends to destroy the secrecy of
the ballot. 1t has been claimed that
under the present system Of marking
close observer can determine by the
time spent by the voter within the
booth whether he is voting the straight
ticket or splitting it. Under the pro-
posed system it will be much easier to
do this, because the difference between
the time required to perform the act
necessary to vote the straight ticket and
the act necessary to split the ticket must
be much greater than under the old sys-
tenn, for the average voter can make
score of crosses while he is writing in
single name to say nothing of several
names. Furthermore the hand writing
of the voter which will appear on the
split ticket will often prove sufficient to
identify the voter who threw it.
Secondly, it Will restrict the freedom
of voting more than the old system of
marking. A great many intelligent men,
especially men who labor with their
hands, find the act of writing difficult.
The muscles of their hands
become cramped and stiffened
by manual labor, and do not ac-
commodate themselves readily to the
small and curved characters which writ
ing, especially writing in a narrow space,
requires. They can make the crosses re-
quired by the present system with ease
and celebrity, but the making of the
curved lines required in writing the
name of a candidate will tax them Sc
verely-so severely that oftentimes they
will vote the straight ticket from sheer
reluctance to subject themselves to the
physical difficulties of splitting the
ticket, though their preference may beto
vote for candidates of each party On the
other hand men whose business is such
| as to require them to constantly use the
pen, like lawyers, doctors, clerks, book
keepers and the like, will experience no
| great difficulty in writing in the names
of candidates. This system, then, will
| who perform manual labor. 1t will pre-
vent them from enjoying the freedom
which the Australian system was de-
signed to give, and which it will still
afford to other classes.
The effect of the amendment can
| hardly be other than to abridge the
freedom of the voter, to make
the task of marking the ballot
more difficult and perplexing and to
destroy in large measure the secrecy of
the Australian system. If the amendment
was proposed by friends of the system
they have obviously made mistake. If
it was proposed by enemies of the system,
as we strongly suspect, then the intent
of it obviously is to render the Austria
liam ballot unpopular preparatory to
abolishing it altogether.
AS to the amendment requiring the
preservation of the ballots we merely
reiterate the opinion that we have fire.
quently expressed before that it will
prolong the election excitement in every
case where there is close contest and
will in this way be productive of harm,
while asecond count, if one is ordered,
will carry no more weight than the first,
indeed not SO much, for between the
counts there will have been opportunity
to fix the ballots and in times of politi-
cal excitement there will be no reluc-
lance to allege that such opportunity has
been improved.