Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-09-20

. US
is printed elsewhere thinks the Aus
tralian ballot law. should be amended 90
as to prevent the use ofistickers, and that
the voter who wishes to split bis ticket
should be compelled to write in the name
Of the person he wants to vote for. We
don't sgree with him. There are
great many voters who are intelligent and
fairly educated who would find it exceed
ingly difficult to write in legibly the name
of the person they want to vote for.
They write little and their hands fire.
quently become cramped BY the man
ual labor they are engaged in. Another
objection to writing in the name is
that the handwriting will serve to re-
veal the identity of the person who threw
the ballot and thus destroy the secrecy Of
the system which is its chief merit. The
distribution of stickers may be productive
of some confusion in the neighborhood of
the polls, but this had better be suffered
than thousands of men be deprived of the
right to vote for whomsoever they wish,
which would be the result of making the
writing in of the name imperative. Our
method of marking the ballot may not be
perfect, but it is simple, and it gives the
voter fair chance to vote as he wants to.
The people have become familiar with it,
and understand it. If now it be altered the
people will have to learn q new system, and
the result will be an increased crop of errors.
No Fault Of the System.
Gardner Reporter. Journal.)
1t isn't the fault of the system that the
voters are disfranchised, but of the voters
themselves, either by their stupidity or care
lessness. 1t is no great loss if the former
are disfranchised, and the latter will know
better next time. There were not nearly
so many defective votes in Gardiner this
election as at the previous one and some of
those were on account of checking each
name instead of the whole ticket. If the
system is not changed again before next
election there will be still less mistakes
made, and the best way to prevent the voters
from being disfranchised is to let the system
alone, so that they will not have something
new to learn each time they try to vote.
The Law Has Reached its Simplest Form.
(Brunswick Telegraph.)
The law has now reached its simplest
form. 1t is clear, plain, and logical. We
are free to say it is not only better but
simpler than the old fashioned method.
Why was it not understood? Well, we
have tinkered it too often. 1t should be
let alone.
Don't Tinker The Law.
eastern Argus.)
If the next Legislature thinkers the pres
ent system of voting, then a lot of other
errors in marking ballots will be sure to
show up at the ensuing election. A perma-
nent system of voting is what is needed to
avoid mistakes.
Multiplicity Of Methods Not Desirable.
Bangor Commercially
If each Legislature is to present the State
with new system of voting, it will not be
many years before the majority of the citi-
zens will be SO non-plussed by the multi
plicity of methods that they may abandon
in disgust any attempt to express their con-
victions at the polls.
No Inherent Difficulty in ihe System.
cortland Press.)
The protest from the Maine press against
any more tinkering of the Australian ballot
law seems to be well nigh universal-and
the reasons against, practically the same,
that further changes would produce further
confusion of methods, and consequently
more errors. There is nobody who is COM
petent to vote who cannot comprehend the
present method of marking the ballot if he
will only give it little study. Intelligent
voters have failed simply because they did
not take the trouble to inform themselves
as to the method before they went into the
booth, and not from any inherent difficulty
in the system.