New-York tribune., 1905-11-26

of ths municipal constituency to which he pc
longs. the place where the voting VIII De heiu'
the signature of the voter his Christian and sur
names. the date of his birth, his profession and
address, and the signature of the Mayor, the
date, and the stamp OF the Marie. On the re-
verse side are the words: "Republique Fran
caise, Liberte. Egalite, ct Fraternite, carte
d'Electeur." The date and nour at which the
election is to take place are given, and the voter
is informed that his voting paper must be pre-
pared at home. must be OF white hue, and must
contain no exterior marks. beyond the name
written or printed of the candidate for whom he
wishes TO vote. Any addition in writing nullifies
the vote. Along the left edge of the electors
card is a counterfoil, divided diagonally by red
line the triangular sections being marked "A
and "B." AS soon as the lists in each section
are closed they are communicated TO the Pre-
lecture Of the Seine. and a careful comparison
is made between them, which prevents any cit
fzen from casting double vote. Copies are then
sent IN the various sections. The polling takes
place from o'clock in the morning TIL SIX
o'clock in the evening. Outside the poihng sOa-
t,ons which are, as a rule the local marie, or
the schoolroom, electioneering agents are st"
Toned. who distribute voting bulletins printed
with the names of the candidates whoIh they
renrasant Inside is a table covered with green
hajze. on which is an oblong box, also covered
with green CLOTH and with slit in the centre
of the lid This is officially called the urn
The sole function of the police in frehch elec-
ton is to preserve order in the pelhng s'alIoii'
THE first electors to arrive constitute the bu-
reau" Thus all official interference with the
nroceedings is avoided. Three volunteers iahe
nossessiou of the urn" and of the ilst OF No'eia
in the particular section. and as each electoi
rrasants himself they compare his card with the
aS1 of
triangular divisions. The division marNeo
"a retained in view of a possible second paIlo''
The voting raper or bulletin, as 1t is called' IL
+aLen nv the assessor in the right hano anu
Than transferred to his left hand TO be droppeu
,.+o the urn It is thus visible to all present
+be+ only one vote at time is registered
A. 6 o'clock volunteers are called for from
among the electors present TO count mo 49,
This oneration takes place in public ana Is per
formed by the public. All possibility OF cheh'iiis
is thus avoided. 1t is said that IN the 0ou'" "
Erance in the exuberant Midi Oh Aai '0i ''-'
urns with false bottoms have sometimes oeen
used for the purpose Of falsifying results o"'
80 ,s hardly credible. The French law Furnishes
electoral fraud with great severity the
.-or,,,,e between three months. and two years
.-r,.o,r,ant As soon as the count has been
made the urn is sealed up and dispatched 10 ths
,oo1 Iora4Ae+ura where a commission sits 10
verify the count and if necessary to rectHS It.
The correction rarely makes a dliierehoe VI
more than two or three in the total The elee-
atfon always takes place on Sunday ana 1t Is
onlv on the following Friday that the ohclaI re-
suits are declared. After this the hgures can
not be challenged except by an appear 10 liie
Council of State, a body which is practcaly
equivalent to the Supreme Court OF the Onileo
States, and this is a very onerous and expensive
process.
In the case of elections to the Chanper' the
successful candidate does not legally become
Deputy until his election has been "vaildateo
bv his colleagues. Invalidation, which Is gen
erallv pronounced on the ground OF bribery OIL
undue influence, involves new eieenon' thousi
it is in the power of the Chamber to prohouhc'
the candidate who figured second on the poliine
list as duly elected. This was done in the case
of Joffrin. the antagonist of the late GENERA
Boulanger During the elections the candioales
are forbidden to use white posters. Whlch are
reserved exclusively for government prociaiiia-
tfons, and recently the tricolor has also Dee"
tabooed. The French system OF voting IS ek-
actlv the same as that which has been adoPteu
in Switzerland. - = -