Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-27

The mechanical contrivance known
as the voting machine is of late inven-
tton, but machine voters have existed
10 greater or less extent throughout
our national history, and their mum
bers have been proportionate to the
prevalence of machine and boss politics
The greater the Intensity Of partylsn
the more fruitful has been the soil OF
machine voters. Sometimes they are
the product of blind partisan zeal; at
other times from being hoodwinked and
misled In respect to what is best for
the public interests, and not infre-
quently through corrupting means.
The more recent machine politics that
has so largely and disgustngly pre-
vailed, has not been so much to
achieve party triumph as to secure
special advantages to q few over the
general public. It Will hardly be con-
troverted that machine domination ha
grown concurrently with the partici-
patton of predatory wealth in influence
ing elections, through contributions OF
money to campaign managers.
AT all times there has been, and
probably always will be, percentage
of voters that can be bribed outright,
and 1t may be done in a variety of
ways and for a variety of consdera-
tions, but larger number can be \in-
timidated or cheated. The actual buy
ing of votes may not be as common
as 1t once was, due in part to legisla-
tion imposing penalties, and making
detection easier, and In part on account
of the expense and trouble. 1t has been
discovered that 1t is more feasible and
less perilous to resort to tricks than
cheat and defraud. 1t has also been
found cheaper and more effective to do
business with so-called leaders,, or
rather bosses, than with individual vo-
ters. They can be more safely dealt
with, and through them a larger force
can be used though there may be some
doubt whether the expense is less. 1t
is improbable that the introduction of
the voting machine will do away with
machine voters.
The first method of voting was viva
voce. 1t was an advantage to manipu-
lators that they could know whether
man that had been bought, kept his
contract but II was open to the objec-
tion that it afforded opportunity for
practicng intimidation. The secret
ballot, it was believed, would check
bribery and intimida tion, because
whether one voted as he had agreed
could not positively be known, and he
that paid out money for votes might be
the victim of bad faith, for whoever
will sell his vote would not brave any
voting the other way. 1t would not be
surprising if the bribed should play a
trick on the briber.
When the printed ballot was adopted
it contained the name of the party or
a party Device such as color of paper,
size of the ticket, or peculiarly of type.
That kind of ticket was used in pre-
serving party alignment and enforcing
party discipline. This evil was met in
| n ha tolr 70
of all parties should be of the same size,
on the same paper, and in the same
| type. This proved to be of less value
than was expected, for there We're chal-
| lengers at the polls representing all
parties as much to pry into how men
voted as to prevent the unqualified
from voting. Intimidation and bribery
| continued to some extent, but what was
worse, ballots were changed in the
boxes, or the ballot boxes were stuffed,
as each party printed it's own tickets,
and as many as might be desired.
| Counting out also became q practice
to no little extent.
| To avoid these crimes the Australian
ballot system was adopted, which iSo-
lated voters from contact with others,
prohibiting discussions and solicitations
within hundred feet of the polls, and
the government printed the tickets and
required the election officers to account
for them. Ballot-box stuffing therefore
became almost impossible
Statutes have been enacted imposing
penalties for all kinds of acts that in
terfere with Independent voting and
honest elections, yet if bribery, intimi-
dation and other criminal acts have
become less, machine voting can hard
| ly be said to have decreased. 1t is
more than doubtful whether the voting
machine will have any appreciable eff
feet in removing the evils Of dishonest
or dependent voting. 1t will likely have
the effect to cause men to vote a
straight or party ticket, because to do
| that is quicker and less complicated. 1t
| really plays into the hands of the ma
| chine and the boss.
| Very few men know how to manipu-
late the machine so rs to express their
wishes; in fact the mass will have to
be instructed or aided by an expert,
and by the time another election comes
around those that have really learned