The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-11-06

and other employees are deVOting them
selves to the election.
1t is a great day for Hawaii.
FIRST PRECINCT OF FOURTH.
The wisdom of increasing the num-
Der of booths was shown this morning
when the polls were thrown open and
voting commenced in the first precinct
of the Fourth District, at the corner of
Punahou and King streets. Originally
there were only three booths but this
number was increased to five. The need
for them was not due to any great rush
of the people to vote but to the failure
of some of the voters, especially the old
natives, to be able to complete marking
their ballots. The average voting time
for this precinct will be very low and 1t
is probable that it may fall lower than
any other precinct in the city.
All parties were represented at the
polling place which is an open shed
built especially for a voting booth.
Long before the time for opening the
polls arrived, the voters young and old,
native and haole, gathered in line
across the field on which stands the
polling place. A record was kept of the
time occupied by various people in
marking their ballots. In some in
stances a little over half a minute was
required but when some of the old Ha-
walians went to the booths the patience
of those in line was sorely tried Two
of the old fellows got into a couple of
! booths at once shortly after the polls
were opened and they remained in the
1 booths for twelve minutes. There were
| protests made by those who wanted to
| get a chance to show how rapidly they
| could vote for the best man and the up
| shot of ii all was that both of the old
| fellows were hauled bodily out of the
booths and told that they were pau"
The old men did not understand the
proceedings though and squatted on the
| floor waiting for further explanation OF
! the trouble. A clerk was especially de-
! tailed to advise one of the old men how
to mark his ticket but success failed
of this attempt and at last accounts
the Hawaiians were standin~ disconso-
lately about the place trying to figure
out why they could not vote for their
man as well as some body else was
doing.
The old fellows were not the only ones
|-Hho, f7Were not conversant with the
fmethods of the Australian ballot sys-
TEN. Many of the young men and quite
a number of the haoles were entirely at
sea when they found themselves cooped
| up in the stuffy little booth. 1t was as
bad as being on the witness stand for
many of them for instead of remaining
cool the sensation of casting their mai
den ballot as American citizens proved
too great a strain and then with the
perspiration pouring from them, they
wrestled with the intricacies of the
tickets for many minutes and delayed
the others who were eagerly pressing
forward in line to vote.
A large majority of those voting car
ried sample ballots with them, and used
the specimentS of the voting lists of
candidates, as guides to mark the regu-
lar tickets. Although the precinct haE
but 446 registered voters it was feared
this morning that many of them would
| 6iGfr1 Of
booths being continuously in use sc
that they would not have an opportuni.
ty of voting without having to wait fol
hours in the line to do it.
The session of the vote casting was
livened this morning by the appearance
of Robert Wilcox the Independent nom
inee who was accompanied by his wife
The pair took a lively interest in the
voting, Mrs. Wilcox especially interest
ing herself to make the natives supper
her husband There was no rowysn
apparent this morning and this appear
ance characterized the voting at all tn,
other precincts.
SECOND PRECINCT OF FOURTH.
r The second is the biggest precinct o
] the entire lot and it was the livelies
looking place in the city this morning
) Long before the polls should have beel
I opened the citizens began to gather from
) all parts of the precinct and ranged
t themselves in line at the school hous
! door until the master of election
a should put in an appearance and Sc
e them to work. BY eight o'clock whe
e the polls were thrown open for Votin
the lines of waiting men reached fror
s the little rear school house where tn
4 voting is being done, clear across tn
s yard and beyond the Waikiki side OF tn
5 stone building. The men improvse,
S chairs to serve as resting places and
was a motley group that stood Waitin
for the doors to be thrown open and tn
balloting to begin.
AS soon as the rush started the cleo
ton officers were kept busy from eigh
O'Clock until late this afternoon.
careful estimate was made of the tim
necessary in which to mark a ballo
Some did 1t as rapidly as 45 second
while others went as high as 2;30 al
though many went much higher tina