New-York tribune., 1905-11-13
nISCUSS BALLOT REFORM.
Easy TO SPLIT VOTES.
loint Committee Planning Election
I,a,p Changes Tonight.

IN plan changes in the election law which will
-,ake il as easy to vote split ticket as to vote
. straight party ticket is the object OF the
-,estins Of the joint ballot reform committee
hich is called for o'clock this afternoon at the
oesoe Of ex-Judge William n. Cohen OF No. A
Irau-ss This committee consists of represen-
.s.;ves OF the City Club and various reform or
snizations and has been working for ballot re-
tenn for years. The members feel the time is
,ov ripe for driving ballot law through
,,s legislature. In view OF the public opinion
which was aroused by the last election.
The committee will consider two propositions,
MACHINE voting and ballot. There is OBJ
section TO machine voting because of the diff
cuItv of voting split ticket, the very thing
.bich the reform committee desires to obviate.
powerer. the various machines will be consid-
s5 and their advocates given fair hearing.
r;t e decided TO recommend a form Of
,ellot If is likely that the committee will put
.o-wsr5 a combination of the Massachusetts,
ballot and the emblem ballot in use. The
rlan is TO make every ballot a, split one. making
q innpnssibe 10 for. list of party candi-
dates BY making one mark There must be
mark for every person for whom the voter de-
sires 10 cast a ballot. but opposite the names
will be the party emblem, that the illiterate
voter need not go astray-
7. is the well grounded fear of the mysteries
n, the law that make voters afraid to assert
their Independence and vote they wish, ac-
oording 10 those who have studied the election
problem closely. This was shown in 1897, when
the first name In each party column that OF
a candidate for the office Of chief judge of the
Court Of Appeals and the second that of a can
ddate for the office of Mayor. The number Of
votes canvassed for the office of chief judge in
this city was less, by 10000. than the number
cauvassed for the office of Mayor. This arose
from the fact that the Citizens Union column
was printed without the name of a candidate
for the office of chief judge. IL was shown, too,
In the last election. when ten thousand Repubf-
cans threw away their votes on Mr.. F1ammer
who had withdrawn from the race. Desiring to
make their party ticket secure they refrained
from making any other marks on their ballot.
The ballot which many of the members OF
this committee approve is series of lists each
containing the names Of the candidates for a
single Office. The voter is TO mark In each list
the candidate for whom he votes for that office.
Each candidates name is printed once, and only
once. the ballot The method has been tried
with success in Belgium, and II is advocated as
the simplest and surest way of securing abso-
lutte uniformity in the marking, while decreas-
ing the probability that any other mark than
proper voting mark will be made.
The proposers of this ballot also favor the
adoption of a new tally sheet-the sort of tally
which men naturally adopt in checking off mer-
chandise- The general principle of this tally
sheet is that each vote represented by ballot,
including votes which the voter has left blank.
and those which he has rendered void by his
manner of marking the ballot. shall be repre-
sented the tally sheet by distinct and
separate mark. If for instance, the voter
entitled To vote for three candidates for the
office Of Supreme Court Judge and had voted for
only two, his vote for that office would be rep
resented on the tally sheet by mark opposite
the name Of each of the two candidates for
whom he had voted and by mark under the
heading. Votes counted as blank" The result
would be that the whole number of votes shown
on the tally sheet, under any office, must at all
times agree exactly with the number of ballots
canvassed.
II is claimed that this form of ballot and tally
would place all candidates for the office
on an equality as 10 the printing of their names
upon the ballot: that it would simplify the bal
lot and avoid unnecessary repetition; that it
would place all voters upon equality in the
process of voting: that il would make the
process Of voting clear and simple; that II would
make the canvass Of votes by election officers
easy simple and certain; that II would make
The returns Of the election officers simple and
correct,