The National tribune., 1905-11-23
NEED OF BALLOT REFORM.

NEED OF BALLOT REFORM.
elections will be general revision of
the ballot laws of the various States.
The developments all over the country
are of the most astonishing and dis
sa tisfying nature. In many States the
ballots have been made so complicated
that nobody, neither the voters nor the
election officials, can really understand
them. Tricksters have taken advantage
of this to cheat the voters and secure
results not intended by the people
This was particularly the case in Mary
land, where the trickery was carried to
the last extent and the managing ring
had the audacity to even pass special
ballot laws for the Republican Coun-
ties, in order to defraud them of their
votes.
The latest reports from Maryland in
dictate that fully $4,000 votes will be
rejected for alleged informalities. This
is startling development of the power
which these ballot laws gave the ring
and it is significant of the depth of the
public feeling against the ring that in
spite of this immense number in so
small a vote as that of Maryland the
Ubiquitous Poe Amendment was de-
feated by so large a majority as $4,000.
In New York the matter is a hopeless
bungle. After all the vociferation
about wholesale cheating, it would seem
that the trouble was more the incapac-
ity of the voter to properly mark his
or tn, 4 f1I IL,
and the ignorance of the election off,
Gals as to the requirements for a bal
lot than downright dishonesty. With
ballot as large as a page of The Ma
tional Tribune, covered with names in
fine type with various puzzling desig-
nations and arrangements, the voter
had only five minutes in the booth to
properly mark his ballot for deposit
ton. He had to do this upon a narrow
shelf which did not allow him to spread
his ballot out it's full length and fol-
low the columns from one end to the
other. 1t would be no light task for
a competent clerk to properly mark the
ballot in the time allowed, if he had no
previous acquaintance with it.
Then the inexperienced and frequent
ly incompetent election officials took a
hand at bungling the count. They had
to arrive to conclusion Of what the
voter intended as best they could, and
that best was frequently quite bad
The ballots that they suspected or
failed to understand were put in sep
arate envelops, some marked void"
and some marked protested" without
any clew as to why these were so desig-
mated. To further complicate the mat
ter it is not known how many of these
void and protested" ballots have
been counted.
Last Saturday Justice Giegerich
with the aid Of magnifying glass, a
number of experts and lawyers spent
the day in examining 65 ballots taken
from the "void'' and protested" en-
velopes, and when he got through the
Mcclellan side said that, under his de-
cisions, they had gained 10 votes over
Hearst, while the Hearst men claimed
that they had gained IL votes over Nc
Clellan. If a learned and able Judge,
sitting at ease in his chambers, with all
the aid that he could summon, has this
trouble in determining the intention of
a voter, what can be expected of cleo
ton officials in the hurry and rush Of
election night?
The whole thing is simply monstrous
and makes a farce of elections The
people thoroughly understand this:
the proceedings in the Hearst contest
strongly emphasize 1T, and the coming
sessions Of the Legislatures I'm many
States will at once proceed to pass laws
to simplify the ballot and prevent such
defeats Of the expression Of the popular
will as have come to light I'm the re-
cent elections. Who may be elected or
who may not be is a matter OF infinitely
less consequence than that a man Of
common Intelligence shall be able to go
to the polls and express his wishes with
a certainty, and with confidence that
that expression shall be properly reg
istered.
There has been an astonishing devel-
opment I'm the exports Of rice from this
country. In 1900 they exceeded $780,
600, but this year they will reach the
vast amount Of $5,361,641. Much of
this increase has come from our closer
relations with Porto Rico, Hawaii and
Cuba. Formerly all our rice was raised
In the coast countries OF the CaroIinas
ov,1