St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-05-05
THE BALLOT LAW.

The defects of our existing system of
bailoting for public officials were illus
trated at the recent municipal election.
The vote was large, and naturally the
process of counting the ballots was a
long and tedious one. But it was I'M
necessarily so, and every vote might
have been counted aud returned in
three hours after the closing of the polls,
and the result, down to the minutest de-
tail, announced to the public in the
morning papers.
The system in vogue in Illinois is far
superior in every respect to the Mime
sofa plan. In the former state the tick
cts OF the several parties are printed on
a single sheet side by side, each ticket
complete in itself. If voter wishes to
cast a straight ballot he has simply to
mark a cross in circle placed at the
head of that ticket. Ii he wishes to
vote split ticket he is required to
mark cross opposite the name of each
candidate for whom he desires to vote.
Nine-tenths of all the votes cast at every
election are straight" Few men
scratch their tickets. Under the Hi
nois plan a split ticket can be detected
at glance, and all such can be laid
aside by the judges, to be counted separ-
ately. The bulk of the ballots, which
are voted straight, can be counted-and
counted legally and accurately, without
possibility of mistaken i've minutes.
AS many hours are required to perform
the same work in st. Paul. without any
compromising benefits.
AT the last municipal election in Chi
cago there were four tickets in the
field, and the total vote of the city was
nearly three hundred thousand. divided
among nearly a thousand voting pre-
cincts. Under the operations of the
ballot law in force there every vote had
been deposited, counted and returned to
the city hall some returns being
brought distance of eight miles-by
O'clock in the evening. The policeman
on duty at each polling place was re-
quired to act rs messenger, and to see
that the returns reached headquarters
in the shortest possible time. The pub
lie curiosity as to the result was graft
fed early. and before midnight had be-
come an of:-told story-fat. stale and
Improbable.
st. Paul has less than one-tenth of the
population that Chicago can boast; and
yet, although three days have elapsed
since the election, the result is yet in
doubt as to few of the candidates.
The fault lies largely with the ballot
system, which is cumbrous, compli-
Gated and designed to confuse and in
terfere with the expression of the public
will rather than to facilitate it. The
Illinois system offers ali the guarantees
of secrecy that are afforded by the Min
nesota plan. There is less chance of
mistake there than here; there is abso-
lutte safeguard against fraud.
The election law OF this state needs
amendment in the direction indicated.
1t should be made so simple that every
voter could understand at glance how
10 cast a legal ballot EXPIRE ssing his
preferences as to candidates and par
ties. 1t seems to have been the purpose
of the trainers of the existing law to in
vest the exercise of the franchise with
as many difficulties as possible, to de-
lay as long as practicable the ascertain
| ment OF results, and to encourage vex-
| ations doubts and embittering contests.
Uuless it is simplitied, and the chances
| for fraud and disfranchisement are di-
minished, there will be such protest
against it as will in the overthrow
| of the entire system. There is much OF
| good in it-too much to be risked be-
cause of the crude and bungling man
| ner Of carrying it out-and we cannot
afford to dispense with it. Yet it may
be made so obnoxious as to preeipitate