The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1901-04-12

not to divulge how any voter cast his
vote, yet the practical operation of the
booth the ballot clerk of the party
whose ticket he voted could convey to
the watcher of his own party by some
| signal whether the voter had carried
out his bargain. 1t was a perfect system,
but with the colorcd voters, who stand
in fear Of their party leaders, it amount
ed to intimidation, which prevented
them from voting anything but the
Republican ticket.
''To prohibit anyone from witness
ing how voter marks his ticket re-
duces the chances for bribery to min
imum, so the provision of the law of
1896 authorizing the ballot clerks to
assist the voter was repealed, and un-
der the new law no assistance will be
given a voter unless be is physically
disqualified from marking his ballot.
The demand for the reform was
earnest and deep-seated and was not
confined TO any one party"
VOTING AND COUNTING.
"But your party has been criticised
for the manner in which it framed the
new ballot law?''
"To accomplish the result so much
desired by all the citizens of Maryland
without regard to the party and to Sc
cure pure elections the Legislature
enacted law providing for ballot
identical in form to that which has
been used in Massachusetts, for many
years. That is to say, candidates for
office will have their names entered up
on the ballot in alphabetical order, ac-
cording to their surnames, under the
designation of the office. For instance.
if J. c. Anderson were the Republican
candidate for Governor and j. C. Brown
were the Democratic candidate, the
name of Anderson would could first
and Brown second, etc. This rule
would apply to candidates for all offices
and they will be grouped alphabetical
ly under the title of the Office for
which they are candidates. In addi-
ton, the name Of the party of which
he is a candidate is printed to the
right of each candidates name.
"The voter is simply required to
place cross mark in the square op-
posite the name Of the person for whom
he desires to vote, without any assist
ance whatever being given. In ascer-
tanning how to vote the law provides
that the ticket, as made up by the
Boards Of Supervisors, shall be printed
in uniform type, and to the right of
the name of the party he represents
Republican, Democratic or lndepend-
ent, as the case may be. The tickets
are required to be printed in clear. leg.
ible type and are required to be of the
same size paper for each election dis
trict. The Board of Supervisors of
Election, who prepare the ballots, con-
sists of one Republican named by the
Republican organization, one Demo
crat named by the Democratic organi-
zation and the third selected by the
Governor, the minority member hav-
i - the right to veto any proposition
presented.
"The ticket so prepared is required
to be published in magnified type in
the newspapers prior to the election.
Specimen ballots printed on cardboard
will also be distributed in each election
district two days before the election
and an additional number on the day
of the election, SO the party managers
of every party will have full and per-
feet opportunity to instruct each voter
how to mark his ballot before he goes
into the booth. If he can read or dis
tinguish the difference between Repub-
lican and Democrat he will be able to
mark his ticket without difficulty. Or
if he can be instructed to count he can
likewise mark his ticket without trouble
At all events full and perfect opportu-
nifty for instruction is provided. All
the Legislature has done is to prohibit
one man from marking another mans
ticket
"In the reception of the vote the
machinery Of the law provides there
shall be four jud dyes-two Democrats
and two Republicans. These judges
are selected by their party associates.
There are also two clerks of election
one Democrat and the other a Re.
publican-selected in the same man.
ner. These are usually active, ener-
getic party men. No vote can he re-
ceived unless all the judges agree.
And in counting the votes the law re-
quires the return judges to read off the
the ticket and the other to see that no
mistake is made. The two clerks
one Dem ocrat and the other a Re-
publiean-must agree on the tally, so
there is no possibility of any party ad-
vantage either in receiving the votes Or
the counting Of the same, no matter
which party is in power.
POWER OF LEGISLATURE.
"Is there authority in the Legisla-
ture to require each voter to make out
his ticket without assistance p
"The Governor and the Democratic