Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-04-06
CHANGES FOR PRIMARY LAW
Filing Fees, Rotation Of Names, Different
Registration olauss Advocated BY Dodge,
WILL ASK NEXT LEGISLATURE FOR THEM
Thinks Law In General IL Coed and
Has Come 20 stay, Though Needs
some Alterations IN
ConstructioH.

Now that we have tried the direct pri-
mary at both sounty and city election
think We can clearly draw some conelu-
sion as to both the advantages and faults
Of the present law" said Representative
N. p. Dodge ir.. father of Nebraska's
direct primary law. "Of course we must
remember that the so-called Dodge law
IL by no means novel. even In Douglas
county. for we have had substantially the
same method of nominations in the repub-
lican party before the present law was
passed. The present law simply places
upon the statute book the direct primary
and makes II applicable TO all parties. 1t
has been fully demonstrated to every fairA
minded man that the direct primary IL
the only right and proper way to nom
mate candidates for ONCE 1t carries out
the first principles Of democracy and In
place OF convention nominations dictated
by special interests or franchise corpora
tons, we have nominations made by the
direct vote of every qualified voter
There can be no bossisn or dlctation
under this method. and even the most
powerful machine cannot nominate a man
against the will Of the people. providing
the people see ut to choose another man
strated by the inability OF the Fontanelle
club, with its well organized machine, to
elect MI Plumb in the Third ward aud
Mr.. Westberg for comptroller. No matter
how qualified these men may have been
for the place, the people chose otherwise.
THE defects in the present law are due
to technical errors In drafting the primary
bill and 70 the failure of a companion bill
to get through the senate. This companion
bill changed the registration days OF the
state law, 50 that we could have the hrst
day of registration on primary day. We
can get this changed at the next session
OF the legislature and We will have one of
the chief features Of this law invoked
that is, the registration Of the voter at the
time Of the primary.
Rotating of Names on Ballots.
Another feature that was knocked out
by the supreme court but can be amended
is the rotating of names on the ballot
There is no question: but the candidates
at the top Of the alphabet have an unfair
advantage over the man WHOSE name be-
gins with letter in the lower half Of
the alphabet. I intended TO remove this
by rotating the names, but when l cut
the bill down to it Douglas county, left
in a sample ballot that knocked out this
part Of the law
Another thing, the oficers Of election
should be paid more for their services. II
is not fair to ask a. man to work from
o'clock in the morning until II o'clock at
night, acting as registrar and judge of cleo
| ton for 50, where he acts in the dual ca
pacity, as he will when we get the regis
tration feature restored to the law. He
ought to receive SO for his services. e.
~ think there Is one further feature
of the new direct primary law that every
| active worker will notice, and that is the
comparative quiet, orderly atmosphere
around the voting places and the complete
eradication of dishonest counting OF tina
ballots. compared with the old method
Even should there be tendency among
the officials OF one party to take advan-
| tage In favor of one faction of one party
as against the other. we have overcome
| the liability of dishonest count by the fact
there are democratic officials present who
| have an unprejudiced spirit in counting
the ballots and think VIC have seen the
| last OF the disorderly and disgraceful scenes
! that formerly occurred in the Third ward
! when negroes politicians, repeaters, graft
| ers and party leaders would be seen late
| at night standing over a pile OF ballots
! shaking their fists in each others faces
! and each trying to prevent the other from
| gaining control OF the count. There may
be some minor features of the law that
should be improved, but generally speak
ing, / think we will all agree the primary
law has come to stay, and It has no enc
! mics among the people who desire a fair
| honest election and among the candidates
who wish to be indebted TO the people
| alone and not to a special interest for their
! nomination.
Popular With the People.
we found at the election Tuesday the
direct primary was popular with the peo-
pie and brought out the heaviest primary
vote We have ever known in Omaha. Now
when We add the registration feature in
the county elections, we will still increase
it's popularity and there will be an added
inducement for the voter 70 attend the
primary election.
1.-THE next fault OF the present law was
knocked out OF the clause. providing for
filing fee. The supreme court held this
clause invalid as i understand 1t. because
there was a sliding scale Of fee based upon
the compensation of the once for which
the candidate aspired. / had tried to i'm
| prove on the Minnesota law that provided
for a SO fee, as could fOresee the evil of
too many candidates running for an once,
and | thought the matter OF a fee varying
in size from $40 TO 800 would not deter any
candidate who could eonscientiously place
his name before the people for nomination,
with reasonable expectation OF being nom
mated, and that such fee would bar
from the contest mere trihers. advertisers
and grafters. We will trX at the next
session Of the legislature to make good
this clause by fixing fee for all onioes,
instead OF a percentage fee as l had II.
The Minnesota Law provides for a fee OF SO
or whereabouts still feel the law as
passed was the best. but the court has held
It was unconstitutional 60 charge a candi-
date for sheriff = larger fee than a candl-
date for county clerk, for instance. This
matter can be easily remedied."