The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1898-12-31
SUCCESS OF VOTING MACHINES

nmn, these groups being placed In sue
cessfon in the first column on the Austria
han ballot until filled, and then in the
second column and so on. The ticket thus
presents anything but the orderly ar
rangernent usually found in this form of
ballot, In which the party candidates are
erranged by columns and the Office can
dates by rows transverse to these COL
CmTs The intention OF the Massachu-
sets law is to compel the voter to vote
Tor each candidate individually, whether
he scratches or votes straight And the
eason Is found in the effort to protect
the voter against intimidation. Thus, If
the employer orders the voter to come out
of the booth in a certain time, giving him
time to vote a straight ticket by staining
his ballot once a,.d no more, he can to
some extent control him, but if 1T of ne
cessity takes as long to vote straight as
to scratch. this small hold which the en-
ployer has is lest. But the result of these
ballots is that the ignorant voter, and
frequently the intelligent one. so often
nullifies his own vote as to work the dis
REIMBURSEMENT of many voters.
In the machine the removal or locking
of the straight ticket keys would COM
ply with this law, and at the same time
remoe the objection made .by some in the
recent election, that the noise made by
the key casting a straight ticket is great
er than that of any single candidate key
and thus gives
Some Indicati of the Ballot
to the judges and clerks within hearing.
The smothering of the sound is, however,
an easy matter compared with the prob
lens already solved. In either case the
machine eliminates one source of error,
in that the voter cannot overdo his ballot.
This means that every vote cast will be
counted and, If the voter is protected
against mistakes of commission, he is not
ant 70 1>no ne }cr{o~
actual practice it has been demonstrated
that machines can be used with equal GER
tatnty by the ignorant and by the intelli-
gent voter. No man can vote illegallyJ
nor need he fall short in casting the full
ballot to which he is entitled by law. It
is seldom that the returns from voting
machine fall short of what may be ex.
pected from the showing of the poll books.
The machine, too, must provide against
tampering by the Judges of the election
And all these problems must be-and have
been-solved by a mechanism of the ut
most simplicity, accuracy and reliability.
The speed with which voting machines
can be used is remarkable. During the
recent election in New York. in one of the
precincts SIX men cast their votes within
one minute and six seconds while In all
OF the precincts the returns were sent to
the county clerk within twenty-five or
thirty minutes after the closing of the
OOOlA0, ISCOIu unprecedented and i'm
possible by any other method than the use
Of machines. This last factor is one of
the greatest Importance, as all will re-
member the veXatious and irritating de-
lays frequently ensuing in our presiden-
t1al elections, as in 1884, when the result
of the election in the State of New York
was held in suspense for two DAYS on ac-
count of the difficulty in counting the
vote. With the new system the result in
the eastern part of the country can be
positively known in California before the
polls have been closed in the West, rs
The Cost y
af. these machines is one of the great
ops1acles to their general use, as is the
case with all newly patented devices. the
price running as high as $500 for a ma
ch1ne that will suffice in any election for
the whole ~ticket-national state and To-
cai.: But, as no price is too great to nav
to' the purity of the ballot box. this OBJ
stacle will hardly prove an insurmounta-
BILE one. The cost of the election under
the old system is by no means low The
printed Australian ballots being in them
serves very expensive, and with the great
er NUMBER OF polling places necessary,
the ballot boxes, the clerk hire and other
FEATURES incidental to holding an election.
would $50 far to offset the first cost of
the Young machine and would in few
years pay for it. This could be used wear
after year, always being capable of adap-
taa1on to all new conditions in the cleo
tons as they arise and, in most cases. not
requiring skilled expert to accommodate
the ticket to the candidates to be voted
for
Voting machines can only be used in
the states where they are legalized by law
and some of the states, notably New
York, Chic, Michigan, Minnesota and Cal
lfornia, are so far abreast of the progress
sive spirit of the age that they have al
ready passed avs permitting the use of
them. A question has arisen, however,
i'll connection with the recent New York
elections which may throw a Temporary
obstacle in their way The national law
governing the election of congressman
specifies that they shall be voted for by
written or printed ballot and, as voting
machine which uses counters instead Of
sheets of paper, does not comply with the
letter of this law, it would make the cleo
tion of congressman under them Illegal
giving the defeated candidate in every
tion, if the throwing out of the voting
machine precincts would give him ma
jority. Doubtless This will be remediel
by the present congress. since the de-
sirable feature of the voting machines
are now too well recognized on every hand
to permit of opposition on the part of
lawmakers. The time cannot be long dis
tant when rauch of the present corrup-
ton of elections will give way before this
latest and best contribution of science
good government.
There can be no drawback, as the new
machine recently invented by James H.
Dean of st. Paul provides free ballot
Column for congressional election, etc.