The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1900-10-26
THE BALLOT Is SECRET

THE BALLOT Is SECRET
Mr. William F. Porter, a member of the
Board of Supervisors Of Elections, was
questioned upon this point yesterday af-
ternoon. He said:
There is no possible way to ascertain
how man votes unless he states it him
self The law providing for secret bal
lot is very plain and carefully drawn.
when voter walks into a polling
place on election. day he is asked his name
and address. The Judges then look into
the registration b,)ks to see that he is
properly registered If he is registered
the ballot clerk takes a ballot from
the pile before him, writes the mans
name on little slip or coupon attached
to it and hands him the ballot. The vo-
ter then goes into secret compartment
or booth, where no one can see him, and
marks his ballot. He folds it with the
mark inside, comes out and hands the bal
lot to the judge representing the party in
the State. This year, of course, 1T WILL
BE THE DEMOCRATIC JUDGE. The
Judge tears off the coupon or slip bearing
the voters name and strings it on file
The ballot is then placed in the ballot
box
THE COUPON AND ITS USE.
Many persons are puzzled by the cou-
pom upon which the name of the voter is
written" continued Mr. Porter. "They
imagine their ballots may be traced in
that way but such is not the case. Each
coupon is numbered, but there is no cor
responding number on the ballot
when the coupon is torn from the
ballot there is nothing on the ballot to in
dictate who cast it.
The coupons were devised simply to
prevent repeating. I'll should vote, for
instance, and the judges neglect to record
me as having voted, the coupon will show
the fact. If another man comes in later
and wishes to vote on my name the
judges may look over their books and see
that, apparently, l have not voted. But
when they look over the coupons
they find that | have voted. But they
may search coupons, ballots and every
thing else and cannot learn how | voted,
for there is absolutely nothing to distin
guished my ballot from that of any other
man No one can tell from what ballot
any coupon came.
COUPONS ARE DESTROYED.
when the polls are closed the first
thing the judges must do is to destroy the
coupons. 1t is the duty of the Attorney
General of the State to construe the cleo
ton law each year in Instructions to cleo
ton officials In his instructions this
year Attorney General Rayner says, with
reference to the coupons
"'Before the ballot box is opened all
coupons taken from the ballots cast shall
be destroyed.
"'You will perceive here that the cou-
pens are not to be taken from the spoiled,
rejected and not voted ballots. The cou-
pons to be destroyed are the coupons
which have been taken off the ballots
which have been actually placed in the
ballot box
No one need fear" said Mr. Porter,
''that the way he votes will become known.
That is a secret that is impossible for
any man to learn. | have heard politi-
clans bewail that fact time and again
EXTRA PRECAUTIONS THIS YEAR
The Supervisors of Election have ia
ken extra precautions this year to guard
the secrecy of The ballot. We will have
them printed on heavier paper than usual,
so that no mark made on the face of the
ballot can be detected by inspecting the
blck. The pencils to be used are very
soft, and their marks would not show
through ordinary paper, much less the
helvy paper we will use.
FOUR HOURS IN WHICH TO VOTE.
"Therc is another fact that the work
ingmen should know. The last legisla-
ture passed law requiring every employ
er to allow his workmen at most four
hours in which to vote. This does not in
clude the dinner hour"
A heavy penaltp for violation of the law
il inn oSed.