The Delta independent., 1902-11-21
THE VOTING MACHINE
WAS A SUCCESS IN MILWAUKEE
Records the Votes With Great Rapid.
ity and Accuracy,


The voting machines proved a per-
feet success in the election Tuesday
says the Milwaukee Sentinel. Seven
machines were used. one in each of the
six precincts of the Thirteenth ward
and one in the Sixth precinct of the
Sixth ward, and all gave such COM
plete satisfaction to voters and cleo
tion officials alike that interest in them
. exceeded the interest IN the election.
Rapidity and accuracy were the chief
characteristics noted by the election
officials, and the ease with which the
who witnessed the machines work to
express themselves in terms Of the
highest praise.
The first returns were received four
minutes after7 o'clock from the Fifth
precinct of the Thirteenth ward-Rose,
21S; La Toilette, 211. The return was
the quickest ever made to the central
station by any precinct in the city in
any election ever held in the history
of the state.
In some of the booths votes were
registered in from nine seconds to half
minute, and in but few instances
were voters within the curtain OF the
machine longer than full minute.
Although 1t was expected that some
voters would demand the paper ballot,
none objected to the machines, the ma
jority appearing to be greatly pleased
with their operation. The city pos
sesses fifteen of the machines, but
eight were not used, as there was not
sufficient time to instruct the voters
in their USE
From the general appreciation Of the
voting machines 1t is evident that their
use will be extended to all parts of
the city as soon as possible. and prob
ably 100 will be in use in the next
election. 1t was feared by the cleo
ton officials that some OF the ma
chimes might make a mistake or get
out of order. or in some manner fail
to work. but the unfailing regularity
with which the casting of the vote
went along in all of the precincts rap
idly established the machine in the
confidence Of all voters, and within an
hour after the booths opened yester-
over the operation OF the machines dis
appeared. and the inspectors and
clerks settled down to enjoy the easy
work of checking of the voters, allow
ing the machine to perform the heavy
labor of the day.
1T Is impossible for a voter to vote
wrong" said Inspector Tromp. 1T is
true that he may accidentally vote for
the wrong man. but this is not liable
to happen half so quickly as II he were
marking one of the big blanket ballots.
A man cannot cast a defective ballot
with the machine"
One OF the features OF the machine
that appealed the strongest to the cleo
tion officials was that the vote was al
ready cast up and totaled for them the
moment the last vote was cast. and the
hour for closing the polls arrived. In
most instances 1t took less than two
minutes to open the back of the ma
chine and count up the total votes for
all the candidates. and instead OF be-
ing kept until 2 or 3 O'Clock in the
morning to count up split tickets, the
officials were able to close the booths
and get down town before the first re-
turns had been received from any
other precinct in the city or state
No trouble was experienced in the
registering of the votes of women who
appeared to cast ballot on the state
superintendent of schools and the con-
stitutional amendment. as device on
the outside Of the machine prevented
their voting on any other Office or
question.