Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1905-03-15

I II mot with flole tn III little FAVOR
able common. N the hom" city Of Nj.
| Norcy and my :eif. The local parc'&.
commented on il quite LaNCrabiy. Soin3
| four or tiva Ga:s after | introduced II
the gentleman from l., vision tMr.
| Murey) introduced House bill - AM"
| referred it 10 the judiCidr, committee.
The bill which | had Introduced hi;d
| been sent 20 the legal affairs aohiliit-
tee. Now. oo;h of those committees
| have had an rnurnlouS amount Oh ""' N
| to attend to auiinS this present s"S-
| sion. somehow or other the p'il Iiti"-
duced by nv co,ieag1l". referred to the
| judiciary committee, was reported p"N"
here to the Holse on las[ 1hurS"aH'
! faVora bic report TAc report Oh 'l''
other bill, 81 did not return from IN
| legal affairs committee until ffloay.
| simply mention TINS to ShoW WEIGH VI
these bills VAS iutroiuc"d first, as iaf
as that may nave any bearing on the
matter.
| Now I agr,,n with the gentleman
from Lewiston III all that he says about
the ,icsira blity of Il secret ballot. me
fact that tho ludi"i"ry committee re-
ported favorahlF upon his bill and that
the legal affairs corim'ttee reported
unanimously on the other bill is Sutfl-
| ,irnt evidence that some change should
he made in our voting system III order
that 4 man may har" some secrecy in
his ballot since there il q necessity OF
some. change The first thing. it seems
to me. which we should consider
is the simplest form hE which the
object can b. accomp',s he'd. There
is altogether Il too Intricate mcchan-
ism about oar voting at present 3:
and when tWo methods of change are
proposed. v hchever is the simpler is
to my mind the one that should be-
adopted. Another question which
should have some weight is the practi-
cahility of the method. If YOU read
House bill No. IA YOU will find that it
provides that an enclosure with II
| swinging door, the door six feet from
the floor. should be provided for each
and every voter. If every city and
town had fixed polling places. places
| where no other use WAS made of them
then tn" use made on election dav.
| there might be some good i'll this bill.
| but in many towns and in some of the
cities we have voting places that are
rot fixed 80 that those booths could
| be pat in there ana made stationary.
| And if YOU! are going 30 provide booths
with q swinging door, suppose Il nan
of my size needed assistance in voting.
needs two election clerks III order thar
they may direct him so that b" can
vote intelligently. How large It boO;h
must yru have for those three men to
get into? You could not have but one
ln1 W. r. IN, Ma h,I. .t,.1
The gentleman from Lewiston says
that bill No. ia absolutely does away
with the secrecy Of the ballot. Since
this bill YVES introduced here I have
been arreerhly surprised to learn of
the number of towns and cities in this
| state where voting has been done in
the past in exactly the manner which
l have prescribed in House bill 51t. Two
of the senators in the other branch i'll
talking with me about the matter have
said that ut every election up to the
present time the manner of voting IL
their towns has been in accordance
with the manner prescribed here in bill
No. 5i4 Tie only objection to that is
that while they have been voting in a
manner which gave 4 secret ballot. ut
the same time they have been voting
contrary To the statUte. because the
statute provides 1T the present time
that the voting shelf shah he the view
of all persons in the ward room. House
bill 51f provides that tie voting booths
should be 50 arranged that they he re-
verseI from the position which the
statute now compels. that they be
turned about. Under tliis bill L man
marks his ballot in entir" secrecy be-
cause it provides that there shall be
no other persons i'm the rear. i'll other
words. that the shelves shall not be in
view Of amy person except those par
tiripating in the voting. The gentle
man from Lewiston would have YOU De-
lieye that if ward heeler wishes to
control votes all he has to do is to
bring in five or six men and compel
them to hold up their ballots and allow
him to SEQ the manner in which they
vote How many times can a Wdrd
hoeler get by that ballot box and get
into the rear? He cannot get i'll but
once: he has but one vote: he cannot
get in again.
The gentleman makes something out
of the fact that the top OF the booth
as proposed in No ia is only fv. feet
| H.
ballot in such way that he can show
it to others. The gentleman must know
| that there is 4 provision in the stat ut Q
with Il penalty attached if any MIN
| SLOWS his ballot. on the other hand
bill No. III provides that there shall
he at least foot ana 4 half space I'M
| enclosed ut the base of the booths.
thereby giving an opportunity for the
| proper persons in the ward room to see
the feet Of every voter as he stands
behind that booth. 1t also provides that
the top of the ballot bo0oth shall not
be more than FIVE and one-hHlf feet
from TIL" floor. Can YOU conceive how Il
mon in there can collide with another
person without some proper official
knowing about il ana if he does isn't
there a provision in the statute which
prcvides 4 penalty for it, | say that
| what we want is the simplest method
of voting. the least expensive and the
most practical. In many of the towns
and in some if not all of the cities the
| expense Of House bill No. Az will be
| considerable. | ask you gentlemen,
when YOU come to vote 10 ask your