The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1910-04-21
COUNTY STANDS ALL.
Must Pay Entire Expense of the Pri-
mary Election.

AOl z nav Z UOSu SOluS CuduSoS Ill
the Iowa primary law since the last
election and the primary to be held
in June will be minus some of the
features that were noticeable two
years ago. The county auditor of
Scott county has examined the law
and it's amendments and has prepar-
ed statements showing some of the
conditions the candidates will have
to observe. That official says in
part:
1.-The county convention this year
will be held on the fourth Saturday
following the primary election, or
one week later than it was two years
ago.
The county convention will also
select delegates for the congressional
and state conventions, fill such va
cancies on the ticket as it may have
power to do, adopt resolutions and
then adjourn and go it's way in peace,
as the primary will have stolen all
the old time thunder.
In all cases where there is more
than one candidate for nomination
to be voted for by all the voters of
the county, the names will not be ro-
tated on the primary election ballot.
The townships will be arranged al
phabetically as also the cities and
towns, the precincts and wards fol-
lowing in numerical order, and then
the candidate whose name appears
first on the ballot for the first town
ship or voting precinct will be last
on the list on the next one in order,
the other or others moving up. This
procedure is kept up until the end of
the chapter. For state offices the
county is the rotary basis, while for
congressional, senators and represent
atives in the assembly and all county
officers the voting precinct is the one
in which names are shifted.
For all township offices the
names of candidates are arranged all
phabetically.
''fhe rotary system will mean a
costly printing bill if there should be
many contests at the primary, but
the general assembly in it's wisdom
says that it shall be done, and no
economical plebeian will have any
legal leg on which to stand if he
wants to register a kick over the ex-
pense. In this connection it may be
said that the county will have to pay
all the expenses of the primary cleo
ton this year. Two years ago the
state paid one-half.
THE ballot is to be published in
two papers of general circulation
and sample ballots will be posted at
the various polling places. That is
all the law provides for and, there
fore, in filing nomination papers it
will be necessary for those having
them in charge to see that the names
OF candidates are written legibly and
spelled correctly, as the newspaper
notice will only give the names of
the offices for which nominations are
to be made and will not give the
names of candidates for the same, as
was done two years ago.
The only money candidates for
nominations at the primary election
can contract to spend is for securing
Signers for their nomination papers
and in making announcements in the
newspapers. When expended for any
other purpose it subjects them as
well as the person receiving it to a
fine of $3vv or Imprisonment in the
county Jail for ninety days, and no
candidate is going to take any chance
of being locked up for ninety days
when he has an interesting engage
ment like a campaign on his hands.
voters whose party utilization is
already registered in the Office of the
county auditor and who may desire
to change such atfiliation must file a
certificate to that effect in the Office
of the county auditor at least ten
days before the primary or take an
oath on election day that they in
good faith desire to change from one
party to another New voters will
again have to declare their party af-
filiation, as will also all voters who
may have moved from one precinct
to another. In the latter case this
can be avoided by having the change
of residence entered on the alpha
betical lists in the Office of the coun-
ty auditor.
"Calls for district conventions
must be issued not less than ten nor
more than sixty days before the pri-
mary by the chairman of the district
committee and filed in the Office of
days before the county convention.
LIS Cdll ID Lucu CcTLlu0u W lie COLI
vention with the list of delegates and
other papers.
'"There is nothing to prevent can
didates from being placed on the Of
fetal ballot for the general election
in November by petition, but such
candidates cannot be placed under
the name of any party which was en-
titled to make nominations at the
primary election.
Candidates for nominations for
county offices must receive at least
35 per cent of the vote cast for the
respective offices for which they are
candidates to secure a nomination,
while for township offices the one
who receives the highest number of
votes is declared the nominee.
Every candidate for any Office
voted for at the primary must within
ten days thereafter file an affidavit in
the Office of the county auditor set
ting forth the money received and
expended by him as such candidate.
There is a pretty stiff penalty to be
applied to all who fail to make this
interesting confession to the public.
This must also be done in the same