Omaha daily bee., 1903-03-13
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House Roll No. 236, which has been
logrolled through the house under false
pretenses and pushed through the SEN
ate committee on elections without de-
liberation or discussion. should either
be radically amended or indefinitely
postponed. Ostensibly this bill was de
signed to effect the publication Of po-
litical primaries and that portion Of 1t
relating to affidavit voting may, IL prop
erly enforced, work a desired reform,
but the real object Of the bill as en-
bodied in the first section is not merely
designed to subserve fractional ends, but
TO destroy the secrecy of the ballot.
The registration laws Of Nebraska
grant to each voter the privilege of
recording his party a~fillation and the
political committees very properly ex-
clude from participation In any primary
election all who have not declared their
affliation with the party. When a man
declares under oath that he is affiliated
with the republican, democratic, popu-
list or prohibition party, his right to
vote at the primary of the party he
claims to be affiliated with is assured
and in case Of challenge the only legiti-
mate questions he is obliged to answer
are concerning his citizenship and resi-
dence. -.
To compel a voter to disclose whether
he voted for all of the candidates Of his
party at the preceding election is an in
quisitorial proceeding that would de-
stroy the very object for which the Aus
tralian ballot was enacted. 1t is a mat
ter of notoriety that workingmen EN-
ployed in Omaha and South Omaha in
mills, factories and packing houses were
dragooned into voting the Mercer ticket
at the last primary election, but did not
vote for Mercer at the regular election.
To compel them to disclose for what
candidates they voted and for what can
didates they did not vote would expose
these men to persecution and possibly
discharge from employment. To refuse
them the privilege Of voting at the pri-
mary of the party with which they or
dinarlly affiliate would be ~disfranchise-
ment.
The effect of that provision of House
Roll 3 that authorizes inquisitorial in
terrogatories would be either to dis
franchise large numbers of voters or to
encourage wholesale perjury. In Omaha
and South Omaha its effect would more
over he to fence out hundreds of leeiti-
mate party voters. The object of the
existing registration law is to expedite
voting in cities. When a citizen has
once complied with the requirements of
the law the election board Is presumed
to allow him full exercise of his fran
chise without let or hindrance unIess
challenged on suspicion that he is per
sonating a registered voter or is fraudu-
lently registered. In that case only Is
the board empowered to inquire into his
qualification as a voter.
II every voter can be challenged in
discriminatory concerning his political
antecedents at a primary, what use ia
there OF registration, or. a declaration
OF affiliation? If a voter can he cbal-
lenged under pretext that he did not
vote for this or that candidate, or that
he failed to vote for a majority of the
candidates of his party at the preceding
election, 1t will take from three to five
minutes for every voter to pass the or
deal and at the utmost not more than
$50 votes will be polled in any polling
place.
Tha portion of House Roll 23s ra-
lating to a swearing in of votes by ofB-
davi is not Objectionable, although the
reform aimed Mt could be reached nv
rules adopted by county and CITY rom.
mittees. who have ample power TO pre-
scribe the method of voting at primaries
by affidavit or transfer certificates. In
a nutshell, the most Objectionable
feature of House Roll 236 is that If ar
tempts to make every election board a
tribunal Of inqulsltion into the political
action of every sovereign voter, who il
presumed to be answerable to nobody
except his own conscience regarding the
votes he has given or withheld from
candidates for office.