The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-08-01
FAVOR VOTING MACHINES
RETRENCHMENT AND REFORM
 COMMITTEE UNANIMOUS.

Have Not Decided Yet Which Device to Recommend-severaI Citizens Speak for the Aew Method of Voting at Last Nights HeartBg-Less Expensive and Safer Than the Present system.
 The committee on retrenchment and reform met last night in city hall for the purpose of considering the com munication of Mayor Studley concern ing voting machines. There were a number of citizens present and all were heartily in favor of having the com mittee recommend to the board of al- dermen the adoption of the machines The claims that they would greatly re- duce the expenses of an election and that they would eliminate all chances for fraud were strongly brought out by all of the speakers of the evening and after the committee came out from it's executive session, Alderman Trueman, the chairman of the committee, said that the committee was unanimously in favor of adopting the machines but be- fore any particular one wasi recom- mended, public demonstration of the different types of machines would be given so that the citizens would have chance of determining which one seemed to be the most simple and the proper one to adopt.
 The meeting of the committee last night was the first held by committee of retrenchment and reform for four years. The last meeting of this com- mittee was held in 1898 when Alderman Wallace put in petition inquiring into the city advertising methods.
 The meeting last night was opened by the reading of communication of the mayor asking the committee to look into the matter of voting machines and this was followed by the reading of communications. A letter was read from Mayor Sullivan of Hartford speaking in high terms of the machines and telling of the success that was met in Hartford by using that method of counting votes at the last city election.
 
 said that the machines were being adopted all over the country and that he considered them very important for the best interests of the city He said that they were adopted in nearly all of the places of importance in New York state. Some of these places are Buff falo, Rochester, Syracuse, Elmira, Uti- ca, Auburn, Ithaca, Watertown, Schnectady, Rome, Niagara Falls, Poughkeepsie, and scores of other places.
 Alderman Wallace, the president of the board of aldermen was the next speaker to favor the movement He said that all chances for crooked work at the polls would be eliminated and that the expense of instituting the ma chimes here would be made up before many elections had taken place.
 MT. Bauman said that he was heart fly in favor of the plan for the adoption of the machines and that he thought they would benefit the city to a great extent.
 A. E. Rich was the next speaker. MT. Rich said that the voting machine was just as necessary for the good of the city when election time comes as the typewriter is in a business mans office. He said that it would save great deal of time and expense, and that he con- sidered them absolutely necessary in getting honest and quick returns of elections. MT. Rich said that he con- sidered voting machines a better form of ballotting than any system that is now used and argued that anybody, even the blind man could work them so that there would be no chance for a mistake. He hoped that the committee would make just as strong recom- mendation as possible to the board of aldermen when they made their report.
 Walter Leigh then said that the check lists were often tempered with at an election and that many man was cheated out of an election by crooked work which would be impossible if the voting machines were established in New Haven. He said that community could not throw out too many safe guards during an election and that he considered it would be tor the general good of the public if the machines were nut in use here. "If demonstration of the machines could be given in New Haven and the citizens had chance to see for themselves" said MT. Leigh, T think they would all say Amen to the plan."
 There seems to be no doubt" said Alderman Trueman after the meeting, that New Haven will have voting ma chimes before long. I think they are necessary and hope we can call meet ing to demonstrate them in the near f,,tlIra