The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-11-17
VOTING BY MACHINERY.
A Good Chance to Try the New System
in Savannah.

in Savannah.
With all the local talk Of ballot reform
and purity Of the ballot, there seems to
be little real progress. The adoption of
the Australian ballot for the coming mu-
nicipal election brings a test of the sys-
TEN here
A Savannah gentleman, who has recent
~ returned from the north, gives the
Morning News an account Of the operation
of the Myers ballot machine. recently
perfected, and legalized I'm New York and
Michigan. where its success has been dem
onstrated by two years practical use.
Among the things claimed for it are that
it is accurate. rapid, Inexpensive, and pre-
serves absolutely the secrecy Of the bal
lot. The latter obviously stops bribery
intimidation, and the pernICiOUs custom OF
trading candidate. Its mechanical pre-
cisiOn prevents the mistakes so frequently
made by partisan election boards Every
man counts his own vote. 1t is almost
impossible for a voter to make mistake
The machine itself prevents the voter
from making mistakes The fact that It
votes in a few seconds is proof Of its sim
plcity.
The gentleman who saw the machine in
Rochester N. Y. year or two ago, and
come into general use. and that there IS
no better place to put il to practical test
in the south than here.
The machine itself is a steel sheet cabi-
net, five feet square and seven feet high.
1t is located in the polling room. The
voter polls in here in front of the election
managers the same as IN any election, ana
if qualified to vote is admitted within the
railing and enters alone the closed cab
net which is lighted inside.
Before entering" said the gentleman,
you decide whom you intend to vote for
There are no instructions inside except
the names of candidates placed against
the wall in upright columns with the po-
ltical party name at the top. Opposite
such candidates name is a projecting
knob. The voter secretly pushes in the
particular set Of knobs for his chosen
candidates. and then comes out The
knobs return automatically to their orig
inal position after he departs, and he is
locked out, before another voter can enter
The ballots of each party's candidates are
posted permanently inside of the voting
machine against the wall. IN front of you
in upright columns six inches apart, pro-
tected behind glass cover, to guide you in
pushing in the knobs, alongside of your
ballot, by which knobs you do your own
counting, by adding one vote to the me-
chanical counter which is in the sealed
compartment behind the partition wall
The ballots are not handled by the voter
nor by any member Of the election board
at any time. Outside of the machine, in
the polling room, is a poster or ballot
chest by which the candidates may be
located To prevent any mistake among
illiterate voters the party tickets are in diff
ferent colors, say yellow for democratic,
red for republican and blue for populst
on all Offices where only one
candidate is to be elected, vot-
ing for any one automatically
locks the other two. The voter has. in all
cases, freedom of choice to cast only one
vote each for as many candidates as are
to be elected Any illiterate or even a
blind voter can vote a straight ticket or a
mixed ticket or part ticket without as
sistanCe.
feature of the machine is the cheap
ness of its operation The Australian sys-
tenn is expensive. Elections districts may
be reduced four-fifths, thereby saving
room rentals, election boards and expense
for ballots. No ballot clerks are required.
Printing under Australian system cost
| Tonawanda, N. y, $G0; under Myers sys-
tenn it cost SO The cost of an election at
Geneva, N. Y, had been about $500; under
the Myers system it was $50 This. to-
gether with its accuracy, rapidity and
what is paramount its protection of the
secrecy of the ballot seem to commend it to
use.