The San Francisco call., 1908-04-23
GUARDING AGAINST
FRAUDS AT POLLS
Registrar Zemansky lnyesti-
eating Large Number OF
Suspicious Cases

Suffers, coIonizers and ex-convlcts
would better stay away from the polls
on primary election day This warning
will not be conveyed to them by any
public proclama ton, but it will reacn
them just as surely through the quiet
activities of Registrar Of Voters Harry
Zemanslky, who is now busy ferretlng
out fraudulent registration w men
Zemansky completes; his Investigations
1t is expected that he will place enough
evidence before the grand jury 10 IN
sure number of indictments.
About the time that the registration
was heaviest the suspicious of the reg
istrar were aroused by the character
of some of the men who sought enroll-
ment. Examinations of their afndaVlts
confirmed these suspicious and started
Zemansky on the trail of frauds Whlcn
are expected to result In a nnmoer Oh
arrests. AS the off@use will be aSsra-
waited il these men iattempt to vote on
primary election das', this warning OF
the investigation viiich is now under
way may be followed by good resuits
Zemansky has teen authorized py
the board of electioA commissioners TO
apply to the chief Of police for plain
clothes detective fot assistance In ms
investigation. This officer Will be IN
structed to look into all cases OF sus-
picious registration and report to the
registrar.
Special attention will be given by
Zemansky to registration from places
known to be opium Joints. houses OF III
fame and other questionable resorts
The registrar declares emphatlcally
that nobody who has registered from a
place of this description Will be al
lowed to Eote
The registrar is examining also the
list of those who have been convicted
OF state prison offenses and have never
been restored to citizenship. lie is OF
the opinion that number of these dis
franchised men are on the register
Registrar Zemansky will turn over
to the district attorney all the evidence
he has gathered and ask that ofncial
to submit it to the grand jury. This
cannot be done before the primary cleo
ton, but surveillance will be exercised
on that day in order that the cases
against those who have made fraudu
lent affidavits of registration may be
completed.
There are now on the great register
79,109 names of voters entitled to par
tictpate in the primary election. OF
these 36,564 voters registered this year.
while the remainder. 42545, represent
the purged and corrected list of voters
In round numbers, 10000 names were
deducted from the roll for the last two
years for removals, that many ballots
having been returned to the registrar
by the postoffice. marked moved" The
roll was further purged when dupli-
cate registrations had been corrected
OF the 79,109 voters who may take
part in the primary election, two-thirds
are republicans, while the remain
ing third must be divided between
democrats, socialists and Independence
leaguers. These last muster 654 strong.
According to Daniel Gordan. statisti-
clan for the election commission. it will
be unusual IL more than % per cent
of the registered voters participate in
the primary election. The largest pri-
mary vote in the history of the city
was cast in 1899 the first year that the
new primary election law was put into
effect. The vote totalled 10000, which
was about 40 per cent of the registra-
ton.
However. as the registration record
has been broken this year, 1t is quite
possible that the primary vote will up
set all calculations based on prece-
dents.