The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-30
HOW THEY ALL BEAT THE LAW
POLITICIANS SHARP ENOUGH TO
OVERCOME IT'S OBSTACLES.

"A N&eGGu
secrecy of the Ballot and Diminish
vote BuyinE-SOme of the Ways
the Laws Provisions Were Over
come-Hard to Make Law That
can't Be Overcome.
After doing service for four years, and
being put to the test of two city cleo
tions the Osborne law, regulating the
election of Mayor and aldermen of Savan-
nah will soon be wiped from the statute
hooks and a new law passed in its stead
The Osborne law was passed when the
Cifizens Club was at the zenith of its
mower 1t had won two bitterly contested
roIiucal fights, and had twice controlled
tbe Chatham county delegation One of
the chief claims of the leaders of that
orgauiza ton in these campaigns had been
thar honest elections were impossible I'M
DER the existing system. and that reforms
would be made by them. The Doolan reg
istraucn law and the Osborne election law
we're the result, the former affecting the
county elections and the latter those of
he city The Doolan law was sub
ouendy wiped out by general legislation
on the subject
While the Osborne law has been gener-
alIv considered an improvement on the
ola method of holding the city election
al the court house, with its accompany
ing rowdyism throughout the day, 1t has
never given entire satisfaction The eX-
pense was one objection, but advocates of
pure elections have not opposed it on that
score, but because Of some inherent weak
nesses which soon asserted themselves
when the law went into practice. On its
very first trial il was proved that the Sc
crecy feature was of no effect, and that
in the hands of INSCRIPTIONS politicians
the workings of the law could
be twisted to partisan advantage
With all its deficiencies, though, the law
has been generally recognized as a step
forward
Under the Osborne law the city is divid-
ed MO twenty or more polling precincts,
with approximately 200 voters allowed to
each polling place. The selection of the
polling places is in the hands of the City
Council, and the clerk of Council has
charge of the printing and distribution OF
the tickets, only the official ballots fur
nshed by him being used To a shrewd
politician the advantages of this to the
parties in power are apparent. Skilfuily
used, these advantages go far toward sue
cess. A committee of Council is appoint
ed to select the polling places. II is but
naIural that the advice of the party lead
ers should be sought Polling places con-
venient TO halls or other places from which
the negro voters can be worked are pre-
ferred. Knowing in advance of The oppo-
sition where the booths are to be located,
the places that offer advantages as pre-
cincl headquarters in the vicinity can be
rented for election day, one for use, the
others being leased for the occasion to
deprive the opposition of them, and force
their headquarters as far from the polls
a. possible In rounding up negroes for
the battle of the ballots convenient head
quarters are recognized as almost 4ndis-
pensab-e. OF course, this is contrary TO
the spirit and intent of the law, bul poll
teians Of an eminently practical type fire.
quently prefer 20 beat the law" rather
than obey it,
Under the law each faction OF party hav-
ing a ticket in the field selects an emblem
to head its ticket The ticket must be
fled with the clerk of Council by a GER
tain date, and, as stated he has the bal
lots printed. No one else is supposed to
see any of the official ballots before cleo
ton day, in order 10 prevent their coun-
terfeiting. From some source or other
the size and general characteristics of the
ballot are said TO have become known in
the Two elections held under the law. In
the first election. as a result device was
resorted to with some success in detecting
how the purchaseable element had voted.
The Osborne law is supposed TO eliminate
the buying Of votes by rendering 1t i'm
possible to determine how a man votes.
As a matter of fact, though, it is
recognized that in both of the elections
under it the buying of votes went on open
ly and literally by both of the contending
factions. In the election four years ago
b0tters were used on one side. These
botting pads, by a strange coincidence
were exactly the size of the official bal
lots. The purchased voter was instructed
To heavily cross the eJA lem from the up
per right-hand corne + % the lower left
mana corner, and place the blotting pad
80 hat il would exactly cover the ball
.ot This left the impression of the line
aeross tile emblem so plainly that when
he returned TO headquarters for his money
u was easy to see by putting the blotter
On dummy ticket whether he had fol-
lowed instructions and voted the right
way. This worked well, ii was said at the
.'me' until the opposition caught on and
logan working off blotters of its own on
me enemy's paymasters. A.. The trick was
ceVer but not clever enough
IN the last election il was again con-
cIusively shown that when it is desired
20 get ahead of the law 1t can be DONE
ana that secrecy Of the ballot and the
Ceeadence of vote buying are still matters
OF the future. Cigars seem 10 have been
me open sesame to he cashiers rolls Of
only ono manager and one challenger for
e'ch side are allowed in the polling place,
ana the number of voters inside is re-
S.rcied to the number of booths, usually
'nree, other prospective voters being kept
nv feet away awaiting their turn One
Ut nager handles the registration list the
o'ner takes the folded ballots and drops
'Hem in the box. 1t did not take a very
fAck-iinSered worker long to learn how
~ take a sidewise glance inside the ball
~ and see which emblem was crossed.
hder The folding rules ONE emblem was
on he inside Of the top fold and this as
r.sted in this scheme for beating the law
hder tho plan Of campaign on one side
'Ae managers were instructed, IL was gos-
sped at the time, TO let the other fell
2"s run the lists while they looked after
me ballots. II the glance inside as the
3allot dropped into the box gave salts
Idctory proof that the bought voter had
voted right secret signal was given the
'haIHnger who handed the voter par
'lcularly made cigar which had a cash