Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-11-05
VOTE BY MACHINE TUESDAY
Douglas County will Give New Plan First
Practical Test,
MANY CITIZENS ALREADY FAMILIAR
Experimental Efforts show that Sc
crecy and silence Is Easily Man
aged Ivy the voter from
the start.

For the past week or ten days the three
custodians named by the county board have
been holding schools of instruction Tor the
judges and clerks who will compose the
election boards next Tuesday. The base
ment of the court house has been the scene
OF Continual conferences, not only between
the custodians and the election officers, but
scores of inQuisitive citizens have also
taken lessons in the art of manipulating the
machine that is the putative destroyer of
political machines of the old type.
a general idea of the method of oper-
ating the voting machines has been gained
by voters through the use of the small
dummy models that have been scattered
about the city in barber shops. cigar stores
and other public or semi-public places. But
careful voters have made it a point to per-
sonally investigate the new contrivance;
and, having investigated, they have gone
away impressed with its simplicity safety
and-slence. What secrets of independence
it may be trusted with they feel, are
never to be violated.
Assistant Postmaster Woodland took half
an hour off one afternoon and devoted the
time to a study of the machine. lie pulled
the party lever over and moved the can
didate keys up and down all across the
board until he was satisfied in his own
mind that he won't forget the combination
next Tuesday.
Seems to me just like swimming" said
Mr. Woodland. "Once you learn how YOU
cannot forget. This machine is certainly
great thing"
Even dull men have been successrully
initiated into the mysterious results
achieved by the educated fingers Of the
voting machine Some men have stood
around and watched ana have played with
the machines as a child does with q saw
dust doll. except that they could not find
out what is inside" II any person has
the idea that the humber class of voters
is not getting wise to the machine he
should disabusc himself of that notion. As
a rule these people have been diligent in
becoming acquainted with the few intri-
caCies of the mechanical recorder of the
spirit OF the electorate. They know their
own weaknesses instead Of being over
confident of their own cleverness. They do
not propose to take any chances that can
be avoided in casting their ballots.
On the other hand, hundreds Of the So
called better class Of voters have never
been near the machines or have given them
only casual attention. Straight tickets are
70 be looked for from this element, rather
than from the more humble voter
Results in the cities in the east where
the machines have had thorough tests
seem to indicate that surprises of as start
ling a character as ever came from the
open box" are to be expected from the
voting machine The only difference is
that here the surprises will not create
suspicion of sculduggery. The machine, it
is asserted. and with apparently good
reason, is the needed complement of the
Australian ballot law. Secrecy is absolutely
secured, with the additional virtue of swift
ness in ascertaining the result
An election officer called on to operate
| the machine for an ignorant voter will,
| perhaps, be able to give the latter the
rush-act in throwing levers, but even then
he cannot succeed altogether II the voter
| knows the key letter and the number of
| the persons he desires to vote for. Party
designations are so plain that the man
with the most rudimentary knowledge of
/ printed English should be able to tell
| whether the assistant he calls is operating
along the right line or not, and the num-
bers of the keys should enable him to
verify his intention
Close observation of many tests give one
! the idea that the machine is simple enough
| TO be easily operated and works smooth
| enough to care for all the votes that are
entitled to be recorded, within the time
! allowed.