The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-10-06
VOTERS D|SFRANCH|SED
THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH VOTING
PLACES.
Fifteen Hundred Voters in One Pre-
cinct-Impossible for All to Vote
Under Existing Legal Conditions.
Will all the voters have chance to

Will all the voters have chance to
vote?
All the campaign committees are
vociferating the cry Register today"
dinning it into the ears of the voters,
till one would think that the commit
teemen would be red in the face.
Now the question arises, will all who
register get chance to vote?
There have already been registered
in this Island about $500 voters, 1t is
believed the total registration will be
5000. There are II precincts in the ISL
and. This gives an average of 1853 vo-
ters to a precinct.
The election law provides that there
shall be mot MORE than THREE
voting shelves or compartments at or
in which voters may conviniently mark
their ballots. 1t also provides that
every voter must mark his ballot In
one of these compartments.
The polls are to be open from 8
o'clock to 5, nine hours or $40 minutes.
In order for 1853 voters to vote in $40
minutes the votes must go into the
ballot box at the rate of 1.53 votes a
minute, in round numbers at the rate
of one and half a minute. AS there
are three compartments this would al
low each voter to occupy compart-
ment two minutes including the time
lost in going to and coming out of the
compartment, and assuming that the
voters come to the polls in regular sue
cession, so that there shall be no time
when there are not at least three voters
occupying the voting compartments
1t is estimated that counting on the
difference in men, some being able to
mark their ballots in much less than
two minutes while some will require
more, and allowing for the extreme i'm
probability that voters will present
themselves at the polls in constant and
uninterrupted succession, it is probable
that 1853 votes can be polled at one COM
cinct, restricted to three voting com
partments. But it is doubtful if more
than this number can. In many states
in the union the law provides that pre-
cincts shall be so dividid as that there
shall not be more than 300 voters in
any precinct, and at the same time
provides for more than three voting
compartments. In California there
are from six to dozen at each polling
place.
But while the average will be appro-
ximately 1853 voters to precinct, as a
matter of fact the voters are not so
evenly distributed. In a great many of
the precincts there are not nearly that
many. In the second precinct of the
Fourth district it is estimated there are
AT LEAST 1900 VOTERS. There is at
least one precinct in the Fourth dis
trict in which there are not nearly 353
voters. There are easily six precincts
in the Fifth district where there are not
an average of more than 100 voters.
This leaves ten precincts on the Island
in which there are anywhere from 5 200
to $500 voters or an average of 500 to
$40, There are therefore in all proba-
bility several precincts which are in
almost as bad a plight as the second
of the Fourth.
If there are 1900 voters in this pre-
cinct, it means they will have to vote
at the rate of almost three a minute
With only three voting compartments
tl.is is a practical impossibility.
1t looks like some voters would be
unable to cast their votes on election
day unless something can be done to
remedy the difficulty
The matter is now receiving the at
tention of Secretary Cooper and Regis
trar Taylor.