The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-01-23
City Officials Wonder What
They'll Do With Them.
Orders for Only Is, and % Are
Needed.
USE IN THE SPRING.
Necessity for Redistricting the
City Is Apparent.
Also That of Preparing Ballots
for Emergencies.

It IS about time that the elecuoh
board of the city of Topeka get DusS
and make preparations for the comma
early spring election. At the presen'
time there are fifteen orders IN 10 tiio
Kansas Voting Machine company Iot
voting machines and the city neeuS .
least ten more There are
cincts in this city and some OF them
are large enough to keep two NolIhs
machines busy the whole day long
If the voters vote steadily an uay
it is a we'll known fact that they don |
vote reguIarly-they vote In streaEA9
and in crowds -. -
II the voting machines are put IN
use at the coming election the cry
viii have to be reprecincted-ne~ PR
cincts will have TO be lnstltuteu az
a months work will be the result
But the election board is postponlng
action while the time flies on;
Laying aside the work OF the eIec-
tfor7 hoard a for rainute-are the new
voting machines adequate for their
business in the coming election
There are many reasons why the ma
chimes should be tested with care
In the first place they are a new
MANIPULATED by an experienced voter
When the machines are in perfect
working order and when they are
manipulated by an experience voter
they are capable of turning out ABOUT
a vote a minute. When the voter Is
unfamiliar and wishes to scratch his
ticket it will take two or three min
utes to make out Vote-and the
angry mobs waiting outside the booths
may be ready to hang him to near
by tree when he finishes his labors
There are 720 minutes in the election
day. At a vote a minute there
could be 100 votes during the day on
one machine. On fifteen machines II
= I'll 70 rT-Nea
OO0 votes But this is on the basis
that there will be a man there to vote
every minute throughout the day This
Is improbable. In some precincts
there are big intervals between votes
and again they will crowd around the
voting place and clamor Tor a chance
to put down their marks
Mayor Green said this morning that
he was in favor of purchasing more
machines. If the machines are TO be
purchased they will have to be or
dered at once. They don't make vot-
ing machines as fast as they run off
a. bunch of paper election ballots. In
the present contract that the mayor
made with the company the machines
are to be completed by April 1st-
This contract was given many months
ago.
In addition-and this is the most
serious possibility-any one of the ma
chimes is liable under inexperienced
hands to lock early in election day and
leave the precinct in which it is the
only means of voting without any
the late city primaries when voting
machines were tried out for the first
time, in a dozen of the precincts they
were locked early in the day Had not
the election officers been prodded into
supplying white paper ballots before
the day Of election by the newspapers,
the whole primary would have been il
legal and no candidates for city officers
nominated on any of the tickets
Therefore it is important that the cleo
ton board provide for the use of paper
ballots in case one of the machines
goes bad. At the present time there
are no plans for such a course and
there will be no plans unless the people
deman nd it. The officers think that the
machines are as good as gold and they
place all their trust in the mechanism.
There have been thousands of pieces of
supposed perfect mechanisms that
have failed at the psychological mo-
ment and especially would the voting
machine fall under this class on ac-
count of the newnesS of the inventions
and the untried success of the idea
Thus it is easily seen that there are
not enough voting machines TO carry
on the election, that the voting pre-
cfncts have not been determined and
that there are no provisions for voting
in case the machines fail to do their
work
1t is true that the voting machine
will save money for the city if they are
a success as voters. At the present
time the law states that at each pre-
cinct there will be five men to act as
cording TO the number of ballots cast.
They always work UP into the middle
of the night and at the last election
they worked until noon the next day.
Their meals are furnished them dur