The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1904-11-08


ratified as you propose'-or, in other
words, LET it pass" One of these tab
let's the voter put into a large bronze
urn provided for the purpose, which he
could do secretly IL he wished. The
question was decided by a majority Of
the votes. In similar manner the judges
in a court of justice gave their decisions
after hearing the testimony. To each
judge was given three tablets, one
marked a, which meant %Absolvo," 81
acquit;" another was marked c, which
meant "Conderano,' 81 condemn" the
third was marked n. L., standing for
mon hquet, that is, 1T does not. APP
pear" meaning, Il ain in doubt" With
these tablets the judges voted, and
when the votes were all in if there was
plurality of Absolvos the accused was
set free. If the Condemnos prevailed
he was condemned. If the Non Liquets
had it, il was about equivalent to a dis
agreement of the jury. The object of
all these simple expedients was to give
the voter perfect freedom by making
his vote secret.
But at a very early period unscrupu-
Ious politicians found means both to in
timidate and bribe the voters. Long
ago as the trial Of Socrates, 3. c. 399,
voters were bribed in what the Greeks
styled dekads, or tens. Greek students,
turning to their dictionaries, will find
IN composition with the word "deka. -
which means ten, a number of verbs,
nouns and adjectives which tell a mel
ancholy story of Greeian politics, for
they indicate that bribing voters ten in
lump was quite familiar to the Athen-
ians. 1t is to be feared that corrupt
voting is almost as ancient a practice
as voting itself This may be inferred
from a considerable number of ancient
methods for preventing fraud. In some
countries of southern Europe instead of
voting by shells, leaves or tablets.
which could be concealed about the per-
son in great numbers and put into the
Urn surreptitiously, the voters were re-
quired to use wands or rods five or six
feet long. These were deposited in a
long box through a small slit in the lid.
AS no man could conceal a stick six
| feet long, the voters were prevented
from casting more than one vote.
Even at the present day the people
| in Greece vote with black balls and
white balls. as their forefathers did
although with special precautions
against bribery and fraud. The duty
1 OF voting is invested with solemnity
! by opening the polls in the churches
/ and on Sunday. Entering the edifice
I the voter sees before the altar as many
/ boxes as there are candidates to be-
voted for, each box being divided into
| twr compartments. one painted black
and the other white. A clerk comes
I TO him with a wooden bowl. full OF
/ bullets. from which the voter is givsT
/ as many bullets as there are candi-
! dates. To conceal from the bystandel
4 how he votes the elector thrusts his
! hand down a long funnel and drops one
| bullet into each box. If he wishes tC
( vote Yes" he puts his bullet into the
white half Of the box; IL No he puts
/ il into the black ralf.
In order to protect the freedom Of
the papal elections and TO put an enc
I TO the scandalous disorder which fire.
! ouently accompanied them. Pope Mich
/ olas II deereed i'm 1859 that i'm future
! the election of the Roman Pontin and
/ the administration of his see durinl
! the vacancy should be the exclusive
! right, of the cardinals of the Roman
( church In 1879 Pope Alexander II.
| solemnly confirmed the decree of Mich
| olas which prescribed that a two-thirdl
| vote should be necessary to a valiS
choice. Meanwhile no statute existed
compelling the cardinals to seclusioE
/ while their performed their duty al
! electors. Honorious III was elected TIVE
days after the death of his predeces
sor in consequence of the strict seclu
sion TO which the cardinals then sub
mitted While Gregory Y was choser
only after vacancy of two years anC
nine months because the electors were
DOT shut up. These two extreme case:
induced Gregory x. Earse74. during th,
| council at Lyons, 10 decree a strict Sc