The record-union., 1897-01-09
AMENDING THE ELECTION LAWS

The Commissioners for the revision
and the reform of the law have made
In their report just out one very i'm
portant recommendation, one part Of
which we apprehend will meet with gen.
eral approval.
1t is proposed that the laws be so
amended that on official ballots at the
head Of the column in which the names
of candidates for Presidential Electors
appear there shall be printed the words,
ITO vote for the electors of one party
mark a cross in the square at the right
of the party name" That is to say there
is to be printed a form so that one must
vote for all the electors of party as a
group, but may not vote for individual
electors as he chooses.
To make this clear it Is recon-
mended that there shall be
printed at the head of each group Of
Presidential Electors the names Of the
ident which such group represents po-
litically. And it is specifically provided
that one must take the group as a whole
and that he may not vote for individual
electors If he wishes to, for another sec
ton reads as follows: There shall be
aimargin on the right hand side of the
names Of all candidates except Presi-
Dental Electors" in which the voter is
to stamp the official tx"
So far then as the group voting pro-
vision goes, it is a good recommended
tion, and is in line with the insistence Of
this paper for years. Tt is surprising,
however, that the commission having
done so well in this respect, should have
stopped there. Why has 1t been provided
that one may not vote for part Of one
group Of Presidential Electors and part
of another? Assuredly that Is the in
defeasible right Of the voter. In this
State we have had an instance Of the
people deliberately turning down one
electoral nominee of one group because
of objection to him on principle, and de-
for one elector in an opposing group and
elecdng him, so that when the State
Electoral College met there was di-
vided vote cast and sent on to the Senate
of the United States. We can not under
stand why there should be any inhibi-
ton upon this right Of the voter to pick
and choose.
What good reason can be given for
not extending the Presidential group
system of voting to all groups of can
didates? Why not so arrange the OFF,
cial ballot that voter can, if he wishes,
vote for an entire list of party nomf-
nees? If 1T is objected that the Supreme
Court has held adversely to that propo-
sition, could not the objections of the
court have been met by proper framing
of the law?
It IL held that II is conservative OF In
dependence and deliberation to compel
the voter to select his choice, name by
didates personally for whom he desires
to vote? 1t has not been found that the
group or straight voting system has
been open to objection In other States
where the ballot laws provide for
straight voting, as in Indiana, for in
stance. There the party tickets, just
as made up by the nominating conven-
tions, are printed side by side upon the
official ballot, with party designations
at the head of each, and still with
squares opposite every name for stamp
ing independently SO that the voter may
choose either method or divide his vote
among candidates of opposing parties.
Indiana. the good old Hoosier State,
is preparing for the celebration OF Its
centennial as a distinct and recognized
poiitical unit OF the United States. The
territory was set off and declared a
body political in May, 1900, and the
state came into the Union December II,