Omaha daily bee., 1896-08-16
ruE yorrys MACHINE.

one Of the constitutional amendments
submitted by the last Legislature for the
ratification of the voters Of Nebraska
tended to open the way to the introduce
ton into this state OF the voting ma
chine. Section 6 Of article vii. of the
state constitution now reads: "All votes
shall be by ballot" 1t is proposed to
amend this section by making it read:
"All votes shall he by ballot or such
other method as may be prescribed by
law. provided the secrecy of voting be
preserved"
Any n who reads carefully the arti-
Gle of the constitution relating to the
suffrage and who considers the require
ment of II ballot for voting in connec-
ton with the other related provisions
will see mt once that the aim of our con-
Stitution makers was to insure to every
one entitled to the suffrage Il chance to
vote his honest convictions and To have
his vote counted. The ballot was pre-
scribed not to prevent the use of more
effective methods of recording the cleo
tors choice, but 10 prevent the use of
methods which destroyed the free eNeT-
else of the electors choice. The word
ballot itself is derived from the French
and means in its origin the little balls
by which secret votes We're taken in
France aud only ~secondarily the printed
tickets which are used for the same pur-
,,,.., IL, ,I,. nn,h,t,u. Fr1n,., Is
tainly room for plausible argument that
even under the constitution as it now
stands the legislature might provide for
the use of an altogether different kind
Of n ballot from that at present en-
ployId.
Nebraska has always been in the van
in the movement for ballot reform. AS
soon us the advantages of the Australian
ballot system owe the old individual
ballot system were demonstrated, an
the legislature of this state. When the
improvement which the new system
brought to the regular elections was
noted and its use began to be extended
also to primary elections, Nebraska
promptly made its Australian ballot law
applicable to primary elections. SO it
ought to be with the step to the use
of mechanical devices for registering the
electors vote. The voting machine is
no longer an experiment. 1t has been
in successful operation in Ohio and New
York ard other states. When New York
revised its state constitution two years
ago one of the innovations was Il clause
authorizing the use of the voting ma
chine, and it is only Il question of time
when all the constitutions which OBJ
struct the Introduction of new electoral
methods will be so amended as to be
in line with the most modern and APP
proved thought.
Without going into a detailed descrip-
ton of any of the mechanical vote
registering devices, it is sufficient to say
here that their advantages are undis.
Duted. Briefly enumerated, these advan-
tageS are: First, on the score of econ
omy, they are nue. less expensive than
the present voting system. Second.
they give absolute assurance OF secrecy
of voting. Third. they prevent fraud in
the count. Fourth, they tell the result
Immediately on the close of the polls
and do away with the delays of the
count. While the voting machine may
not yet be perfect. it already closely APP
proXimates perfection and unqueation-
ably constitutes Il long advance on the
paper ballot. No progressive state can
afford to keep in its fundamental law
pHy constitutional provision that might
obstruct the introduction of the voting
machine.