The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1912-02-05
Agitation Started by Hughes
But it Got Side
tracked.
FAVOR MASSACHUSETTS FORM
Party Designations Done
Away With on This
Ballot.
Very Popular in State
Where it Has Been Used.
Many Years.

Abanlt. y. y Fob 5.-Grcat inter-
test is being taken in the efforts now
being made to have the state adopt |
the Massachusetts ballot. The agiia- /
ton for electoral reform was started &
by Governor Hughes but the move !
ment became sidetracked Now the +
necessity for q change in the system
Of voting is being pointed out by AS !
semblyman Charles a. Dana and Sem !
ator John Godfrey SAKE. who have i'm !
troduced Identical bills providing for |
the Massachusetts ballot with few
minor amendments. The leaders i'm
the fight are from widely divergent
political schools-Dana being the
leader of the New York Progressive
Republicans. while Sake is one OF the
egal ligAis Of Tammany Hal.
on the Massachusetts, ballot the
names of the candidates appear i'm al
phabetical order under the titles OF
the respective offices. The circles are
done away with and the only way q
man can vote a straight ticket is to
place a cross before the name of each
of the nominees of his party. Candi-
dates are also forbidden to have their
names printed more than once. In
speaking of the advantages of the
Massachusetts system today Senator
SAKE said:
Some time ago / submitted TO over
{ two hundred persons, including po-
litical leaders. lawyers and election
law experts, four sample ballots mark
ed I'm different ways / asked each
one Of them to state how each OF the
four ballots should be counted. The
| only one who answered correctly as
! To an four ballots was Jonn T. Dooi-
= ing, who was at that time president
{ of the New York city board of clcc-
pons. quite a number answered cor-
! rcc;ly as TO three of the four sam
pie ballots, but the vast majority were
not more than nfty per cent right
Opponents OF the Massachusetts
/ ballot say thar it Will disiranchlsc the
| ulitcrate voter. They do not even
admit that the SuNe-Dana bill ohN-
ates this alleged difficulty by pro-
viding for the printing Of a miniature
party emblem on the same line VIVA
the name Of each candidate. In Mass
achusctts, however, no party em-
blems whatever are used. The i"I-
lowing testimony was given to the
Senate judiciary committee last year
by Richurd H. Dana OF Boston, known
as the Father OF the Massachusetts,
ballot
"To begin with. in Massachusetts 80
in every 100 Inhabitants are either
foreign born or children Of foreign
born, while the state stands twenty
! third among the states Of the union
in the proportion of its illitvratcs
There Is reading and writing qual-
ncatlon for voting, but the tests con-
slst I'm reading five lines OF the state
constitution and in writing ones
name. Manual iaborers make their
ballots without trouble and each Of
flee gets separate consideration. Ih
fact. il is an Illuminating coincidence
that the Massachusetts ballot has op-
Grated with unusual satisfaction In the
laboring districts A larger proper
ton of the registered voters vote and
"A larger proportion of the possible
voters get registered than under the
lola party column ballot.
'In Massachusetts this form OF bal
lot is very popular While there have
been many changes in the law govern
ing primaries, caucuses and conVeh-
tions, there have been no essential
changes in the ballot law since lts
enactment I'm 1883. Perhaps the best
evidence of its popularity Is that in
the towns (Which have 10 use the sys-
tenn for state elections but are iree
To use it or any other system they Ike
for their own electionsl all but SO
small towns out OF 231, small and
large, have voluntarily adopted the
Massachusetts, system OF voting