Norwich bulletin., 1912-05-21


 paper ballet. He said Connecticut was about as far frem secret as any. One defect of a paper ballet was the diff culty of marking large ballet in a small place and en a rough beard SC as te get the markings in right. Besides not being secret, yeH get defective bal lots by undermarking and evermaFk ing, and the election officer may alse mutilate ballot. There Is also the personal element in making up the count. In New York this Is greatly done away with because 55 per cent of the New York vote is taken on ma chimes. There Is also the delay and holdup as another argument against the paper ballot. There are places and have been times when the vote was held up till it was known what the figure ought to be to settle the vote the way the election authorities want ed it. In the 1908 presidential election there were over 271,000 ballots cast without any vote for presidential elec- tors, enough to have changed the whole election if it could have been cast. Mir. Hamilton described other mixups in paper ballots and spoke of the dis satisfaction in Connecticut over the way the ballot has to be marked now, making the voting machine proposition more readily received here now than before
 MT. Hamilton said that the Empire and the U s. Standard machines had been working now for 15 years and in that time htey had never had a ma chine break down. The machines are voting one and a half million voters now every fall.
 Points in the Maehins's Favor.
 As points in favor of the machine he said that the voting machine is absolutely secret and encourages inde- pendent voting. There are no defective ballots on the machine. They cannot be made. The count is known at once and the crowd on hand can be satisfied with the figures in two or three min utes. The machine Is so constructed that 1t Is impossible for an election officer to alter the ballot It would be impossible for the vote to vary the re- turns that the newspapers take off first and publish. There are no con tests, but if a recount is wanted it can be secured with the least trouble pos Sible. The machines reduce election ex- penses. In Buffalo the saving has been l S20, eco per year. This company, Mir Hamilton said, had done more to make clean elections than any other agency that had been in operation for years. | The practical politician soon comes around to like the machine, after | sometimes showing some opposition to It. The Empire company machine has ! transformed elections and is the only machine is use today in elections 1 MT. Hamilton said that his company 1 was perfectly willing to make a con tract with the town to put the ma ! chimes in subject to good performance, | but if the machines stood the test the | town should agree to take them. 1 He spoke of various slanderous l statements which were circulated | about voting machines but without any | backing in reality
 Answers to Questions.
 To questions by Frank H. Smith, | l.. o. Smith. Frank J. King, J. J. Cor ! kery, E. s. Bartlett. Albert Boardman and Edward Kirby, MT. Hamilton said | that about 500 men would vete on a | machine, and he had known of voting | being done in rush hours in i've sec 1 ends, that one days work by a me 1 chanie would put the machines in ! shape for election day. and that any | good ordinary mechanic with the book 1 of instructions could do the work, and l there is also a book of instructions for 1 the town clerk. Three machines would l be needed for the First district in ' Norwich, and the U. s. Standard ma chine. which he recommended, would l cost $500 each. In Rochester the ma ! chimes have been used for 14 years 1 MT Hamilton said that their machines had been sold on a guarantee and the l company had never been called upon 1 to make good the guarantee
 MT. Hamilton was also called upon i to give a demonstration e the working i of the machine
 Edward Kirby raised opposition tC the voting machines on the grounds ot | expense, and General William A. Aiker 1 suggested that the meeting be given an opportunity to hear from the two other men present to describe theil voting machines,
 Committes's Report Favorable. President Haviland called upon R. $ Bartlett and J. J. Corkery to make re- port Of visit to Bridgeport to sec voting machines in a population O IOO,O0O, where they saw Standard vot- Ing machines in opera ton MT. Bart lett had Secretary Tibbits read his re. port 10 Mayor Thayer in which h, stated that g machines were used one to each 500 names, and thar tht ] Norwich delegates had found nothins but satisfaction in Bridgeport with tn, way the machines worked The com. mlttee estimated that eight machine. would be needed for the city of Nor
 wich and ten for the town
 For the American Machine. ! President Hayiland then called upor Frederick E. Nickels. vice presiden ana treasurer of the American Voting Ma chine company of Besten.
 Presenting the claims of the Ameri can voting machine of Bestgn. MT Nickels said In part as follows
 Had the voting machine been em ployed at the Massachusetts presideB tial primaries, 13,o0o voters would ne nave lost their votes, net a single de fective ballot would have been cast Voting machines will net permit . voter to cast defective ballot: the, will record an absolute accurate count
 We figure that in six to eight years tn
 machines will pay for themselves il saving of election expenses. EleveI
 years of exhaustive study and experf menting have enabled the American
 Voting Machine company to build
 machine which is designed to be Jus
 little better than the rest. The mai
 requisites of a good voting machin
 are accuracy, simplicity for voting an
 for preparing the machine for al
 election, with construction that vii
 not get out of order, so that it is foe
 proof and fraud proof
 The face of the American is so ar ranged that it will be easy for vote
 to read the names of candidates an
 the offices for which they are to b ] elected. There is nothing to arous
 suspicion, no confusion, and yet tn voter has absolute secrecy and ampl ' light in voting. This makes votin quicker. There are no complication: nothing that requires any study i , operating. This same thing Is true i
 setting and preparing the machine fo an election.
 It is not necessary for the man i 7 charge of the machine to be toolwis or handy
 Now another thing worth mentionin is the fact that this machine produce l 8 cross (X 10 the left of each candi date wherever the voter turns the hi4t