The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-11-17

CHIEF JUSTICE RoBERTsoN.
SesSsssssSSsssssessSssssessessssssSssz
came sufficiently intense" Follow
ing the primaries would come the in
evitable scheming and trading of votes
in the nominating convention.
Some of these evils have been ex-
perieneed in this Territory. Fortunate
ly, the use of violence has been rare,
but trickery and fraud in various forms
at the primaries, and vote trading and
the use of money in conventions have
been INDUCED in, and will likely be
repeated in the future unless steps
shall be taken to guard against the re-
petition.
FIRST Reforms.
| On the mainland, the first efforts to
remedy the evils which had taken root
were made in 1885, when, in California
and New York, laws were enacted de-
signed to protect the party primaries
! by placing them to a certain extent
under governmental regulation, and
1 providing penalties for bribery and
Illegal voting. Those laws, though in.
adequate, and, compared with later
| legislation, crude, constituted a signi-
ficant step in the evolution of the party
system. BY 1890 about half of the
States had passed laws regulating in
various ways the conduct of primary
elections, and the statutes of California
and New York had been improved and
strengthened by amendment. At about
| this time the Australian bai,Ct syks..n
was taken up and soon became the
general law throughout the States.
II is interesting to note that in this
one respect Hawaii was in the front
Of the van. The Australian ballot was
adopted here during the Monarchy, in
1888, though, owing to the absence of
regularly organized parties, the law
provided for the nomination of candi-
dates upon individual petition only.
During the past few years, however,
Independent candidates. have not
been common, the regular convention
nominees, after their nomination, secure
as matter of course the required mum.
her of signatures to their petitions from
among the active ranks of their re.
spective parties. 1t may also be noted,
incidentally, that we now have here
three of the important points which are
! AhNiuNNu Al buS thONtAn KON-
eminent plan, namely the right of nomi-
nation upon individual petition, the
Australian ballot system, and, in Ho.
nolulu and Maui county, the election
of supervisors at large, instead of by
districts.
The Australian law, as adopted in the
States, generally recognized the estab.
lished parties by accepting the certifi-
al "a. A. E. L ~
party officers, and the names of the
candidates appeared on the ballots I'M
der their regular party designation.
Again, we may note, in passing, that
the feature of designating the partizan.
ship of candidates, was enacted into
law in this Territory at the last session
of the Legislature.
Legal Standing.
, Such recognition of the regularly or
, ganized parties tended to give them, as
it were, Il sort of legal standing. The
semi.legal status thus given the parties
opened the way toward the regulation
of the entire nominating process. A
, way was pointed out by which the par.
ties might be made more Immediately
amenable to regulation for they had
thus come TO be recognized as an On.
tablished part of the nominating ma.
chinery Primary reform began to ad-
vance at rapid rate. Regulations
, were made more complete and more
stringent; they were made mandatory
, whore they were formerly optional;
the main features Of the Australian
ballot system were carried into the
primary laws. In some eases the law
required the use of voting booths, the
ballots were printed and furnished by
the governmental authorities, and the
expense Of the party primaries was
born by the public treasury. Thus
many, though not all, of tho evils were
: remedied. Fraudulent voting and
counting were not altogether eliminat,
: cd. Conditions were much improved
! however, and the ties Of party asaoeia'
ton were thereby strengthened. In
many Of the States the law required
every voter at primary 10 openly
, declare his loyalty and adhesion 70 the
party In whose primary he claimed the
right 10 vote. ia Kentucky, Law
passed 10 1909, provided for the official
registration Of party voters, The Ore
gon Law contains that provision also
AZ about that tima laws we're enacted
- ""ffiH ~ ~ fHANNNN NEAhfRNNNN "
tome extent the selection " the paTtj
committees, and the eondnet of 10
miuaiing conventions
Aop vii uadfirtaHd thai 80 a. III,
hsYe noi been deaNnF Nuh shat 4
knnNn ~ ihf direct pdmaFy Law, bu
merely viii laNs eTeailnR eofslnWeng
81 gnprl flsien apd Iegalailen w phTil
\ liMaNrs and sons enilpesi ahieh 80
I iaA 10 ftan nss plrfsffsA ~ sagse 4.
ihf airNi pfimhb pHnnrlr unar
nhrh rnnffnfioHf no abolished nnI
(, ~ WlWRgy elrfllpHr afp faaaaflrd ~
iiffll bf So efnHrni lnsffefaff
4 usssn fsliRr ashiaa
y fff gfnffai ifnffnfF go rtamfifl
2 laifl ifalfu ~ ilf lesaaisliaH fsfl
. Asff HpfftIHs n Hai AZ HHHaHf M
y Is4il iWHHfk $3.50 ~ aHsfaNilst y
. faIfffH tsa fgaNNit ah.sh alIiN
e iifHhf fHAHf De- ~ 1850