Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-10-27
NEW ELECTION BALLOT.
Color Number Scheme to Be
 Used In Wisconsin.
ADVANTAGES CLAIMED FOR IT.
Elimination of All Fraud From the Polls - Safeguard For uliterate vOters-Reduction of Election Ex- penses and Great saving of Time h Counting Votes.

| VOters-Reductf0n of Election 6x-
 penses and Great Saving of Time Tn
 Counting Votes.
 Moncena Dunn, an optician of Marsh field, Wis, recently received letters patent on a new form of ballot invent. ed by him which he says will revolu- tionize the whole voting systems of the United States.
 The ballot consists of several sheets of thin cardboard perforated into cou- pons and stapied together at the top. says Marshneld correspondent of tho Minneapolis Journal. Each sheet con- tains the coupons of one party only, each sheet has different color, and the coupons of each sheet are number. ed consecutively. Each coupon bears the name of one candidate for ofIlce. There Is also an envelope or folder, which may be sealed, having spaces or pockets designed to receive the cou- pons voted and numbered to corro- spond to the coupons. Still another envelope receives the portions of tho ballot not used.
 The voter to vote straight ticket tears of the whole sheet of coupons of his chosen party and places them in the folder. If he splits his vote he tears from the several sheets the con. pons of his choice and places them in the pockets corresponding to them in number
 The advantages claimed for the new ballot-called the pocket ballot and coupon voting system"-are that It ab- solutely eliminates all fraud from the polls, that independent voting Is as easy as voting a straight ticket, that 1t safeguards the illiterate voter by enabling him to vote intelligently and by making 1t impossible for him to make such mistake as will cause his ballot to be thrown out at the count and, in addition. that it will cut down the expense of the elections to at least one-tenth of that of the voting machine and to many times less than that of the present ballot
 The illiterate voter is aided because he can easily distinguish color and number, which is all he needs to do to vote the new ballot. He cannot put two coupons in the same pocket, and when all the pockets are filled with coupons corresponding to them in num- Der he knows he Is done. Color and number being the guides, he has q check on his work, which he can in- telligently exercise.
 The ballot is about one-tenth the size of the present ballot, each sheet of cou- pons being 6 by II inches. It costs no more than the present ballot. Experi- ment has shown that the voter can vote with ease in forty-fve seconds. When the count begins the judge finds the choice of the voter arranged com- pactly in order before him, and he has but to read 1t ofY, feature which will, 1t Is asserted, enable him to count from 100 to 125 votes an hour and save at least one-tenth in counting over tho present ballot.
 When the cost of the voting machinA interest. insurance. depreciation, stur- age. drayage to and from polls. extras, etc, are considered 1t is estimated that the adoption of the new ballot win save city of 300.O00 inhabitants at least s15.000 for every election over ths next cheaper means. the voting ma- chine.
 Without waiting for his patsnt the inventor had a bill introduced at tho last session of the Wisconsin legish- ture providing for the use of the ballse in Wisconsin. The bill passed. was signed by Governor La Toilette and ratified by the people In . popular rue- erendum In April. 1908 It will first bo used in the general elections in Novsm- hor