The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-12-02
CHASE ASSAILS VOTING MACHINE
Declares it Offers SureSt and Simplest Way to Deliver
 Purchase Vote

Attorney Prentice W. Chase, of New
 Haven. is opposed to the use of the
 voting machine in elections and has
 written the following on the sub-
 ject:
 MT. Editor:
 I regret to say that your paper. ter. every paper in the State has been publishing articles in praise of the voting machines, thereby leading the public into paths which are mislead- ing, if not dangerous.
 The policy of this State is. and what !! the voters want is . system of vot-
 ing at our elections which will iasuvs
 the recording of an un.n&luencsd
 vote and that too, in the most ecOu- , omical and simplest way.
 l The voting machine offers neither of these two requirements. Tn the first place, the machines are expen- sive playthings. Complicated beyond 1 ordinary comprehension, and because l of this, offer the most simple and
 surest way to debauch and deliver a { purchased vote of all systems, yet to
 be tried.
 Whether the opportunity to pur- chase and surely deliver 8 vote by the machine has been used or even discovered up to the present time, does not enter into the case. The fact is that it can be done and will be. when the ease and certainty of the scheme Is understood.
 From personal observation on last election day, it was no uncommon | thing to see man approach the vot- ing machine and announce his lack of knowledge just how to work 1t.
 When this condition was known, two ! attendants one from each political | party, entered the inclosed machine with such a voter and there not only l showed him how to vote, but learned how he voted. At this point is where 1 the machine can be used as dumb ! instrument for debauching the cleo ! torate. Let us illustrate. Jones
 wants to vote. Smith wants to buy 1 his vote and bargains for 1t. The de-
 livery of this vote is all that is lack | ing. Here Jones is told by Smith to
 announce at the machine entrance that he wants help in working the I machine. The two attendants there I for that purpose enter the machine with Jones, both learn how he votes and the one who is acting in concert l with Smith, reports the vote to Smith and thus the vote of Jones is bought and surely delivered.
 So far as I can see there is no escape from conditions of this kind and therefore, no escape from the conclusion here drawn. If the compli- cated character of the voting machine IS beyond reIneUy, then the OQQOTIuu. ity to certainly deliver a purchased vote is inevitable. The only other alternative Is to keep the attendants out of the voting machine, and, of
 course, this would lead to much guess voting and often wrong or no vote at all.
 If the lobbyists at Hartford who were instrumental. (for a oonsidera- tion) in forcing upon the State this modern vote-recording invention and if the political managers of our par ties would fall back upon the plain simple system of allowing a man to walk into a booth with a plain tick ct of his own making and there fold it without concealing 1t in an envelope and cause him to deliver this ticket,
 always folded, to the box tenders,
 there would be no opportunity of
 making sure that the vote was pur-
 chased Neither would there be any
 opportunity of knowing whether the
 vote was delivered ie purchased.
 It really seems as though every att
 tempt to correct our voting system
 has been a we'll directed effort on the
 part of someone to establish a sys-
 tenn by which vote certainly could
 be purchased and certainly delivered
 The voting machine, at present, and
 the envelope system just discarded,
 are both of this character.
 PRENTICE w. CHASE.
 New Haven, Nov. 30, 1910