The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-11-11
9HOOT MON

Y
board. Having tried both can cheer
fully recommend the jury from the
standpoint Of civilization. For while the
juryn1an Is compelled to listen to a great
deal OF what Governor Hughes calls
loose talk he is at least treated de-
Gently and even fed II occasion offers,
But the member of an election board Is
expected to put up with any old kind
OF accommodations, to work in the night
for less than plasterer's wages and to
find himself. The board with which I
had the honor to be connected held It's
session in a livery barn with a cement
floor. We gathered about kerosene lamps
and transacted the fundamental busi-
ness of politics amid conditions which
would have scared a lumberjack off the
Job. Not that the accommodations in
the thirteenth ward were meager They
We're probably SO per cent better than
the average We. had more light, more
room and more chance to bring about a
perfect result than the many others per-
forming like service on the same night
The city is under tremendous ex-
pense for holding and declaring an cleo
ton and naturally tries to hold down
the bill. Therefore, the wages are small
and the most accessible even If not the
most palatial places are rented for the
SoIAHS SIdIlOnS.
AS soon as the polls are closed there
IS a hubbub of noise about the polling
booth. The senior judge is reading the
law and the young Judge Is disputing
MIN as to the meaning of the Justly
celebrated revised code. While they are
getting in telephone connection with the
city clerk the other judges are arranging
tables, trimming lamps and laying out
the formidable tally sheets. Meanwhile
mere is an incessant rapping at the door.
Inc great American public is there and
1T has gotten the Idea somehow that
there are clairvoyants within who can
tell the result without opening boxes.
But alas, the Judges and clerks cannot
cast a horoscope worth half the price of
admission. The ballots will have to be
counted
Now for the count. It should be said
IN advance that the law has taken many
and valuable precautions against a
crooked result. In the first nlace IN.
number Of ballots cast has been noted
carefully. Every man who received a
paliot mad to return 1t to the Judge. The
hrst' thing done Is to take the ballots
out OF the box and count them. This
Is done by numbering them from ona
forward. The total is verified and com
pared with the number returned as cast
II they tally it Is proper to begin the
count. If they do not agree a hunt for
the missing ballot is undertaken in
earnest. Our board had no such diff
Guilty and I do not know which of ia
would have been indicted If there had
been one missing. The ballots in the bo~
and the tally of the voting judges agreed
Next, in Difference to the desire of the
pubic for the news, the judges first ran
thru the state and city ballots and in
an hour after the polls closed had in
formed the, newspapers by telephone lust
What mad happened to Jones In the
fourth OF the thirteenth, and how Sue
cessfully Cole had been canned in that
same center OF culture and education.
Next the, judges gave their attention
to the serious work of making the off,
cial return. Three groups of men
counted the city, county and state bal
lots separately. The due process of law
is Tor a judge to read while another
Watches and two clerks make tally
OF the votes on separate sheets. Thera
is little chance for anything excent
minor errors, which always tend to
equal1ze one another If the judges are
honest and. the clerks accurate. - There
is tendency, however, for the Judge
who is supposed to watch to wander
away. It is the hardest assignment on
the job this sitting and watching. and
the only way 1t can be done successfully
is by changing off frequently. The law
permits this, but requires that the Judges
make record on the back Of their
return showing who read and who
watched the reading Of each grouu OF
ballots. In case Of contest this would be
use1ui, out In very many precincts no
attention is made to making such a
record. .' -5..s -
The election official has an excellent
opportunity to philosophize over the
Vagaries OF electors That is to say, he
omlts to vote upon some proposition or
some name Even in this precinct, where
q large percentage Of the men would ba
expected to have an opinion upon every
thing going, fifty-nine men returned their
charter ballot unmarked and a larger
number refused to vote on the bond
propositions. When 1t came to candidates
good many men were puzzled by the
multiplicity Of candidates for the park
commission. They did not seem to know
whether to vote for four or two or one.
Some voted four names, others voted for
one and a few vted for more than four.
Under the law these latter votes did not
count at all. Some electors, believing that
a short horse is soonest curried, voted
for mayor and alderman and skipped the
rest of the ticket. Several voted .for two
candidates for mayor, and thus lost their
vote. A few evidently could not make I'D
their minds what to do about the mayor
atty and contented themselves with vot-
ing for the minor names and leaving the
decision on the head of the ticket to
others more interested and more cenape-
tent to decide. . H.
The vote as cast is finally counted and
the totals carried out in figures. But the
official return must be both written and
In figures. 1t Is this return that the cam
vassing boards use. They do not look at
the actual ballots. These are used only
court.
When the count has been completed the
amount of red tape which surrounds the
work Of closing UP the job Is something
awful. The judges are required to sign
every kind Of a paper except q mortgage
on their homes before they are allowed
to go to that repose for which they are
yearning. Presumably all these precau-
tions are useful but one can see where
a properly educated voting machine
would reduce the toll and increase the
chances Of getting an absolutely correct
result. The people of Minneapolis will
yet come to the method of pressing a
button and at once, casting and counting
their votes. James Gray.
HOW SATAN ovERWoRKS
DR.. Stephen H. Robin. pastor Of the
Columbus Avenue Universalist church,