Gunnison news-champion., 1906-08-24
rRnaARY GrloS Law
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Cro~e Of Madison, VIZ. Is the auth
or
q What j. the Direct primary
A. II Is a system II nosa,nat,ns
party candidate. foy elsct,ve osbceu
by direct vote Of the people
q Hos are the candidates nomi-
mated under direct primary law .
A. Oae of the registration davs
is set aside for the PRIMARY. The
voter goes to the poles. registers and
receives ballot containing las; OF
the candidates In some a the
states. where the open primary
Is used. the voter Is Glven a ''blan-
ket ballot containing the names ol
the can iidstes of all parties. bat ia
voting he must e1l6ls hins IL 10
the candidates of bat one party.
Under CLOSED primary she voter
receives the ballot Of only that party
with which he declares himself u
be affiliated. In either case he thea
retires 10 the booth apd votes direct
ly for the men of his choice.
@ How does a candidate get bis
name placed upon the primary bal
lot
A. BY the circulation Of noni-
nation papers, which must contain
the signatures of certain percent
age of the total number persons who
voted for his party at the last cleo
ton in the district in which the nom
ination is sought. For state officers
this is usually fixed at | per cent
for congressional officers at : per
cent, aud for local aud county oil
GERS ot 3 per cent.
Q. Is plurality or ajority
vote at the primaries necessary for
nomination
A. As rule, only a plurality
vote is necessary.
q. Does this not result in mia
ority nomlna. ions
A. No Actual results nave
shove that, - = rule, the require
ment of plurality under the direct
primary results in majority nomi-
nations. In Minnesota, at the fall
primaries in 1904. out of 2ll nomi-
nations, 1873 were made by a ma ior-
ity vote, while the remaining l6
were made by an average of 81 per
cent of the party members. In Mil
waukee, Wisconsin, at the city pri-
maries of April, 1906, out of almost
POO nominations only / | were made
by minority vote.
Q. What are the provisions OF Il
direct primary law which best con
serve the interests Of free govern
ment?
\. Experience has shown that
every good direct primary law mast
be constructed upon practically the
same basis as are the most elective
election laws(I) II must be made
compulsory upon all parties; o. The
Australian ballot must be used; 81
All parties must hold their primar-
les at the same time and place; a.
The city, county and state govern
ments must bear all the expense OF
conducting the primaries; % All
primaries must be held under state
regulation, in the same booths that
are used in the subsequent elections,
must be conducted by the same
officials and must be kept open the
same length of time. The details oI
this law will vary according to the
prevailing political conditions in
those places in which the primary is
introduced.
Q What is the object of the dir.
ect primary?
A. Its object is to give the peo-
pie better government by placing
in their hands the power to noml-
nate their party candidates.
.. Do not the people have this
power under the legalized caucus
\. No. Under a legalized eau.
Gus the voters do not nominate the
candidates, they only elect delegates
and a delegate, no matter how con-
scientlous he may be, cannot repre-.
sent the wishes of all. or even of {
small portion of his constituents
upon the candidates whose names
are brought before the convention
Even though the delegates do tr,
to nominate the best man, their eff
orts are usually foiled by the wild
and reckless enthusiasm OF the con.
vention, in which deals and trades
and the fragrant use Of money and
promise oI future favor count far
more than the fitness or ability of
the resi- pective candidates.
@ What have been the results
Of the direct primary where 1t has
been tried