The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1905-10-26
THE NEW BALLOT LAW.

InE NEW BALLOT LAW.
The first important duty of every citizen of Rhode Island at the
election now near at hand is to vote, and the second to c that he so
marks his ballot that it will be effective az to every candidate he de-
sires to support, and will not be thrown out as defective by the re-
turning board as were nearly one-hfth of the votes cast in the first
congressional district last year. In April last the general assembly,
ostensibly to simplify the method of marking ballots and thus reduce
the number of detectives, made radical changes in the law. and as
these changes will be operative for the first time at the coming
November election, it is essential that every voter should familarize
himself with them before going to the polls
Under the lew system the names of all the candidates of each
party will be printed in regular order under the party symbol and
name. These symbols will be a eagle for Republicans, a star for
Democrats and a fountain for Prohibitionsts. Immediately under
these symbols will be found a circle and by putting a cross within it
the citizen can vote a straight party ticket. This provision of the law
is easily understood and it is one that ought to tend to decrease the
number of defective ballots
In this state. and in Providence particularly, there arc thousands
Of citizens who seldom. if ever, vote a straight ticket. They are
known as Independents, and their ballots are frequently the deter
mining factor in elections. In framing the new ballot law it appears
to have been the purpose of the dominant party in the general assem-
bly, to discourage this large and influential class of voters by imposing
upon them conditions wholly unnecessary and calculated to render
voting by them a complicated and difficult as possible.
If a citizen of independent political thought and action wishes to
vote for a majority but not all the candidates of any party he may
put a cross in the circle and must then draw a line through the names
of those he does not desire to support. If in some other party column
he finds the names of candidates for the offices he has previously
marked out who are satisfactory to him he can vote for them by put
ing a TO III n squares to the right OF their names. In the event
that none of the candidates whose names III printed OH the ballot
meet his approval he can write in the names of other men in the
spaces prepared for that purpose and by marking a cross to the right
make his ballot effective as to them.
1t will be seen, then, that the independent voter must be par
ticularly careful under this e ballot law, especially if he EMPLOYS
the cross in the circle at the top of a party column. If he does not do
this he can make his vote effective by marking his ballot in the same
manner as under the old system-that is, by putting a cross opposite
the name of one candidate for each Office for whom he desires to vote
or by writing the name of candidate when none of those printed on
the ballot are acceptable to him.
If the legislators, when they framed the ballot law, had really
desired to simplify and facilitate voting. they would not have i'm
posed * many intricate, complicated and unnecessary conditions
upon the citizen who votes independently For example, if he marked
o cross in the circle and went to another party column and put a cross
beside the name OF a candidate whom he wished to support. that
would be a plain and definite indication Of his preference. If he wrote
In a name in the blank space provided, and put a cross beside it, that.
too, ought to be ample and distinct evidence of his intention.
But the partisan spirit that ruled the last legislature decreed
otherwise, seemingly with hope of gaining advantage by the obstacles
ii placed in the way of independent voting. There is good reason to
believe it has underestimate the intelligence of the independent cleo.
torate. The citizen who votes for those he considers the most com.
petent and trustworthy among the candidates presented, whatever
party label they may bear, is pretty certain to study the voting laws
so carefully that he will not be DISTINGUISHED through oumks Gun.
ningly and designedly inserted in il.