Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1912-05-18

Washington, May lit is altogeth
er possible that the Ohio primary on
next Tuesday will develop some con-
tradictions in the vote similar to those
which marked the Maryland and Mas
sachusetts primaries. Roosevelt orI
Wilson delegates may be elected to
the national conventions, but may be
instructed to vote for Harmon a nd
Taft respectively.
This was explained fully by promin-
ent Ohioans in Washington today.
They pointed out that with close
vote in any section as to the Presiden-
tial preference the delegates from that
section might be instructed to vote
for the candidate against whom they
themselves ran
The Ohio primary is a mixture of
legalized and unlegalized regulations.
The county delegates, who will be ell
ected to sit in the state conventions,
and the district delegates, who will be
sent to the national conventions, gill
be chosen under a binding primary
law. The expression of preference
between the candidates, however, is
not legally safeguarded. Neither party
is compelled to submit it's candidates
to a preference vote. Yet both parties
have voluntarily entered the primary
and have agreed therefore, to be
bound to the primary vote.
Ohio will have 4S delegates in each
of the big conventions. Next Tuesday
AZ of them will be named by congress
ional districts. Two weeks later the
six delegates at-large will be chosen
by state conventions of each party.
While it will be possible to say or
Tuesday whether or not Harmon OF
Taft has carried a majority of the 81
Congressional districts, it may not fol-
several days be known whether they
will be able to control the state con-
ventions. These conventions will name
and instruct the six delegates at-large
This uncertainty will be due to the
fact that delegates to the county con
ventions, who will be voted for OF
Tuesday, will meet later and elect anC
instruct delegates to the state conven-
ton.
This means that two complete sets
of delegates are to appear on tn:
Democratic and Republican tickets
One set will be elected to attend ma
tional conventions from the Congress
sional districts whereas the other set
will be elected to attend the county
conventions. On the same tickets, too
will appear the names of candidates
for Congress and for county offices
The names of Harmon and Wilson, for
the Democrats, and Taft and Roose-
welt, for the Republicans, will likewis,
be on the tickets.
! No such complicated primary ticket
has ever been voted on in an Amer
lean state, Ohioans say. All manner
of trading is expected. Candidates for
county and state offices will be tempt
ed to sacrifice the Presidential candi-
dates for their own advantage, where
as Roosevelt or Taft partisans, on the
one hand, and Harmon and Wilson
partisans, on the other, will have the
opportunity to make deals with the
candidates for the local offices.
Many Ohio politicians fear that con-
flicts in the vote will appear on every
hand, They look for some counties to
elect Roosevelt delegates, yet cast a
preference vote for Taft, or vice versa.
! The same condition is expected in the
Democratic fight.
While the Ohio primary will be a
biXup, due to the fights of local can
| didates in the counties and in the
Congressional districts, the law under
which it is held is uniform through
out the state The same regulations
will prevail in each county and in
I L,