Omaha daily bee., 1905-11-14
TEE MUNICIPAL ELECTION.


Now that the supreme court has de-
clared valid the Dodge primary election
law, excepting the provisions relating
to the entrance fees and the first day
of registration, the initial steps leading
toward the municipal election next
spring are practically settled. Under
the charter of 1905 the first Tuesday in
May, 1905, which will be May 1. is fixed
for the election Of five general municipal
officers. namely, the mayor, city clerk,
comptroller, city attorney and building
| inspector. and twelve councilmen, to be
voted for at large in the whole city.
Under the new primary election law
the nominations Of the candidates Of all
parties must be made four weeks prior
to the election. which will make primary
| day fall on Tuesday, April 3, 1906. Only
electors who registered for the election
that took place last week will be per-
mitted to vote at the primary election
but all citizens not registered this fall
will have a right to register before next
springs election, so that they may vote
for municipal officers on May 1 and
participate in the primaries for the
nomination of candidates to be elected
next fall.
Under the ruling of the supreme court
no entrance fees will be required of any
| candidate for municipal Office and party
nominations made by direct primary can
| be supplemented by candidates who are
independent OF party by petition, con-
| forming to the requirements of the gem
eral election law. The only open ques-
ton yet to be determined is whether the
candidates for city council must 90
through the ordeal Of nomination by the
voters of the entire city, or whether
they can be nominated by the votes of
the respective wards only in which they
have their residence.
II will be borne in mind that candi-
dates for county commissioner were not
nominated Mt large from the whole
county, but by the voters of their re-
spective districts, which are presumed
to comprise about one-fifth of the area
and voting population Of the county. IF
this precedent were followed in the
nomination of councilmen. the contest
| among the candidates for the council
would narrow down within the ward
limits, but If their nominations must be
made by the voters of the entire city
then each candidate will have TO run
the gauntlet OF the rank and file of his
own party in every ward in the city.
In the one case, the councilmanic can
didates would have to make their cam
paign with an average of from 800 to
1000 registered voters, whereas, in the
other, they would have to make 1t with
more than 10000 this year, and with full
registration they would have to make
campaign with from 1900 to 1900
voters on the republican side and from
5000 to 1000 on the democratic side.
1t goes without saying that the direct
primary has come TO stay, just as the
voting machine has come to stay. The
defects I'm the law. after a fair test, will
doubtless be remedied. but nobody will
dare to propose a return TO the old sys-
tenn of convention nominations any more
than return to the old system of
promscuous ballot voting in place of
the Australian ballot.
The most glaring defect In the direct
primary is the nomination by plurality,
which will frequently foist upon the
people candidates who are not the choice
Of any considerable portion of their own
party. OF this the nomination of Charles
Leslie, republican candidate for county
Judge who only received 1000 out of
1000 votes cast for the Office at the
primaries, is a striking example. Under
the old system, it required a majority
of all the delegates to a nominating con-
vention to make a valid nomination, to
whose support the rank and file OF the
party was morally committed, and, by
rights, the same principle should govern
in the nomination of candidates for any
ONCE by direct primary. This could
readily be done by a second primary, in
which only the two candidates who re-
ceived the highest number Ut votes, are
pitted against each other, just as is the
practice in the election of members OF
Parliament in England and members OF
= the National Assembly in France.
The second primary is already in
vogue in several of the states and should
eventually become a feature OF oul
direct primary system. That, OF course
would involve considerable additional
expense, but it would insure nomina
lions that represent the choice Of the
= party and therefore entitled to the sup
port OF all members of any political or
ganization at the election.
= Among the fragrant abuses that nav,
b grown up within the past few years Il