Waterbury evening Democrat., 1908-11-07
VOTING SPLIT TICKET
Is No Secret Where Voting Machines
 Are Used.

Although the voting machines
 were expected to eliminate the cut
 ting and scratching of the ticket,
 they have not done so and further
 more will not do so Of course the
 machines for awhile will diminish the number of split tickets, but it
 will not take the voters very long to get on to the hang" of the machines.
 In fact goodly portion became pro- ficient in splitting" before last Tuesday. But there is one thing about the machines which may les sen cutting to a small degree, some- thing which is not really part of
 the machine itself. It is the fact that the politicians will know the
 men that split. It is one of the few defects of the machine, but with the
 polling booths as they are, when a
 man votes he does not really cast d secret ballot.
 In the Olden days. when those 9ittie stickers, com nf0n1y known as
 pastors, were doing service in this
 city making business good for the
 printers, man could sit down In
 his own home and fix up his ticket a day or two before election. And
 how much satisfaction he had mak- ing up that ticket, provided he was going to use paster. Taking the paster gently in his hands he allow ed his temper to become a trifle ruff fled as he looked at the name of the man he was going to paste and the next moment he had slapped the pas ter on the ticket. Then for the vest pocket. There it reposed snugly un- til the ballot box was reached. Then the voter would stuff it into the box and none was any the wiser how he had voted.
 But not so with the machines, oh no! The voter is alone and the cur tains shield him from the gaze of the curious outsider, but that makes no difference. The machine Is secret enough for the man who is going to cast straight ticket. but how about the voter that splits his ticket. There is little bell connected with each machine. and that little bell sounded the knell on Tuesday of many voters. When a man is satisfied with all the nominees of his party. of at least convinces himself that he Is satisfied (although he hears a little red devil telling him that such candidate is Il. g) he pulls down the lever and a straight ballot is cast. Oh, yes, almost forgot to say that just as soon as this lever is pulled down the bell rings-of course all you voters know that.
 After that bell rings it is time for good voters to get out. If you leave then everything is all right. The bell is not loud one, nevertheless 1t can be heard in every part of the polling booth. No splitting can be done un- til after that bell rings. and let it be said here that this makes 1t bad for the voters. If there is any doubt about a man splitting, it is easy enough to watch him as he enters the machine. There is no need to keep your eye on the machine until that bell rings, then, well if the voter does not immediately grab the big handle which pulls back the curtains the man who is curious enough to watch that handle and note the time the voter stays in after the bell rings can detect the voters that splits. You don't think so. eh. well if you watch ed on Tuesday you would be con vinced all right. It cannot be denied it is a dead give away. True there are only few men in the booth, but the men generally in the booth are the men that observe. Moreover, at times there are fifty or more men in line waiting to vote and In most of the wards the machines are facing them. It is almost safe betting that anyone In whom the politicians were really interested on Tuesday were nailed all right if they split their tickets.
 If the bell did not ring until after the cutting and splitting had been done. there would not be so much reason for supposing a man was go- ing back on some of the nominees of the party. But as it is. the voter splitting is surely showing his hand. True. no one knows what nominee the voter is cutting, but many things can De imagined. It world seem that tAis poor feature of the machines could he remedied without so very much trouble. At least it should be.