Omaha daily bee., 1902-09-25
DIRECT PRIMARIES IN
General Satisfaction with the Result
OF the Reform Movement.
New York Tribune

N AbAE AAlulllNs
The new primary law Of Minnesota was
tested last Tuesday, when nominations werc
made for congress and judicial, legislative
and county Offices. Passed by the legisla-
ture OF 1901, II had never been tried in any
general state election. and Judgment Of its
effectiveness was awaited with considerable
interest. even outside Of Minnesota. The
most important provisions OF the lay arc
as follows:
The primary is held not less than seven
weeks before election day. All parties vote
on this primary day. each party in a sep
arate ballot box. the officers of the primary
being the regular election officers. When
the voter at this primary appears at the
polls and demands to vote his register
number ia looked for, and IL he Is not reg
istered he cannot vote at this time. but he
may register for the next primary. II he
Is registered he receives an Australian bal
lot OF the party in which he is registered.
II he refuses this ballot, announcing that
he has changed his politics, he is not al
lowed to vote at this primary, but may re-
register himself for the next primary. II
the voter at the primary is challenged he
may vote by taking the oath that he voted
that party ticket at the last general cleo
ton. The primary tickets are made out and
printed by the county auditor. The regular
CanNh6bluE DOdTu CanNbbbeb anu announces
the result. The candidates announce them
selves by a petition OF q certain percentage
of the voters OF the party, and this petition,
in case Of a congress nomination, for ex-
ample, must come proportionately from all
parts OF the district The law applies to all
nominations except those for state ofhces
and municipal Offices in cities Of less than
10000 inhsbitant&
1t is somewhat early to pass ANAL judg-
ment upon the merits OF the Minnesota
plan, but the principal newspapers of the
state have little except praise for its oper-
alton thus far. In an "off year" Tuesdays
vote In Minneapolis seems to have been
as large as in the primary election of 1900
minneapolis adopted the plan for city cleo
tions before the rest of the %state); and the
number OF voters who registered their pref
erences in st. Paul was well up to the aver
age strength Of the electorate. OF the re-
suits as shown in the choice of candidates
the St. Paul Pioneer Press says that the
republican nominations In that city are tho
strongest that could have been made and
commends the makeup Of the democratic
ticket as well.
Some defects are noted. however. The
Minneapolis Tribune and the st. Paul
Pioneer Press assert that the declaration OF
party Affiliations is unpopular, and that
many voters are kept from the primaries
by this requirement. The large number of
minority candidates is thought by some
critics to be a serious objection to the new
method of making nominations lin FIVE
congress districts, for example, the repub-
lican nominees are the choice Of a minority
Of the votes cast. But the Minneapolis
Journal thinks that these minority candi-
dates are, after all, as truly the choice OF
the people as the compromise nominee OF
q hard fought convention, and that less
bitter feeling, leading to "knihng" the
ticket on election day, is likely TO follow a
lively primary than an angry convention.