New-York tribune., 1908-02-21
LOCAL ELECTION FRAUDS.

The report of the special committee of the
Republican County Committee appointed to in
vestigate fraudulent registration and voting in
this county diScloses a thoroughly scandalous
situation. The committee estimates that at least
thirty thousand fraudulent votes are cast in
Manhattan every year, and that estimate will be
accepted as reasonable by every one who takes
the trouble to study conditions in the Assembly
districts in which fraud is most fragrant and
most habitual. The mayoralty election of 1905
helped greatly to indicate the portions of the
county in which voting on false pretenceS IS an
organized business In that election Tammany
suffered enormous losses in all the bOroughs-
The ratio of loss was fairly consistent in all
parts of the city except the districts in Man
haitian below 14th street. There Tammany
held its own, and apparently held its own
mainly because the loss of genuine voters due
to the general revolt against the TammaIy ticket
was more than made up by the expansion of the
mechanical fraudulent vote, fortified against the
appeal 10 the emotions of the hour, and manip-
uated on large scale by expert colonzers and
drillmasters in the arts of substitution and re-
peating.
As The Tribune pointed out last fall the
Tammany majorities rolled up below 18th street
are obviously abnormal and artificial The last
ten or fifteen years have greatly changed the
character of the voting population in that re-
gion. Business has kept on crowding out
dwellings in the western half, and in the east
ern half new elements have come in-chiefy
the Italians and Russian IIebrews-which are
either non-voting or are highly unsympathetic
material for Tammany to work On the
East Side the aliens now probably outnumber
the naturaliZed and native born, and the legit-
innate voting population has rapidly decreased.
But Tammany ma jOritieS are kept at the old
figures through seizure of the opportunity for
fraudulent voting offered by the cheap lodging
houses From these houses thousands register
under their own assumed names, and ballots
deposited later by them or for them without
sufficient Identification. Sometimes Il perSonator
or Illegal voter is caught but the regularity with
which those offenders and their SPONSORS are
smuggled out of the reach Of the law indicates
that the machinery for promoting and protect
ing fraud is highly effective and is conducted by
men Of large experience and with liberal
sources
Public opinion has lulled itself too much with
the idea that Old-fashOned corruption at the
polls has virtually disappeared. Buying votes is
an uncertain enterprise nowadays, for it is diff
fcult TO tell with a secret ballot whether the
vote is really delivered. But conducting illegal
registration a large scale and providing
names of fictitious electors for trusty workers
TO vote on is a certain and profitable substitute
enough in districts where the election officials
sympathetic or easygoing.
We should have legislation providing for the
identification Of voters unknown to an election
board by means of their signatures or, if illit-
crate, by means Of questions TO statements
made previously by them on registration. 1t
would also be good idea to compel all keepers
of hotels and lodging houses and the owners of
private houses where lodgers are taken to in
form the Elections Bureau OF any change of
residence on the part of voters between regis
tration and election. The present election dis
trcts are too large to admit of close examina-
tion of suspicious voters, and such investigation
would be greatly facilitated by reducing the size
OF districts in the overcrowded sections of the
city New York is continually complaining of
misgovernment, which forces up taxation, blocks
needed improvements and makes the cost Of
living excessive. But that miSgovernment is
due in large part 10 the fraudulent reserve vote
which Tammany Hall can always draw on.
With the repeater and the fictitious voter elm
mated there would be an excellent chance to
overthrow Iammany and put the city govern
ment on al honest and effective basis