Los Angeles herald., 1909-12-07
VOTE MACHINES
NEEDED "SPOTS"
SAYS DR0MGOLD
COUNCILMAN DISCOVERS REAL
DIFFICULTY
OF NEW DEVICE
DELAYED BY ELECTION
Real Motive Half Revealed by Clos
ing Remarks of Man Who
Represents the First
Ward

At best the trouble with the nearly
100000 worth of unused voting machines
purchased by the county board OF
supervisors for the county and Can
dldate smith and his associates for
tnc city, mas been discoVered.' The
supposition generally was that the ma
chimes were not used because they were
too accurate. Yesterday, however,
Councilman r. w. Dromgold appeared
before the board Of supervisors and
stated the machines are insuiliciently
supplied with spots-SPOTS-not stains
or taints.
This error could be rectifed, said
Dromgold by the expenditure of more
money, a thousand dollars, more or
less. But no assurance was given by
the supervisors that the machines
would be used even If the improve
II 'nts were added.
No Place for Machines
Dromgold's visit to the board room
mad for its purpose two objects-an
explanation of the device that would
make the machines usable and some
plan for the future storage of the ma
chimes. At present. the fifty-three ma
ch mes owned by the city are orphans.
There is no room for them in the coun-
tv garage where the county-oWned
machines will soon be stored, the city
has no place to put them, and Judg-
ing from the highest bid Of s1.30 Of
fered for them last week. nobody wants
them except as old junk
Explaining his first proposition,
Dromgoid said the reading clerk OF the
council had recently visited kochGN Ut
n Y. and discovered a device, which,
If added to each machine would increase
its name capacity to 400, which, he SAID
would be necessary in view of the large
number OF names on primary electlon
ballots The device he added, would
cost IS or a total of $40 for all the
machines.
The failure of the supervisors ana
city council to make a thorough inVes-
tigation when the machines were pur-
chased was revealed when Dromgolu
stated "The reason we could not use
them before was because there were
not enough spots
Believes Council Was Right
Nevertheless, he said, he believed the
council did good thing when it made
the purchase.
"They say we could have purchased
them for less money; that we paid $500
apiece for the machines and could
have bought them for $500, but that's
no argument" he added, dismisslng
the matter with a gesture.
Supervisor Eldridge said he did not
believe the machines should be sold for
less than $500 apiece, mindful OF the
fact, if his suggestion could be carried
out. it would mean a loss to the city
and county of more than $1,000.
Apparently Dromgold's purpose IN
coming before the board was last
despairing effort to offset, If possible
some of the criticism created by the
purchase and the suspicion surrounding
the deal. This purpose was revealed
when he said:
81 have not looked very carefully into
the matter, but l think somEthlns
should be done on account of the con-
troyersy between Alexander and Smith.
1t would cost only So to put the new
device on each machine"
The board members were non-com- |
initial.
I've will try to find a place to keep |
them" said Eldridge, and Dromgold
departed.