The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1913-09-13

Former Governor Deneen. retained
as legal counsel by the Butts commit
tee to investigate the voting machine
fraud in chicago, has left no stone I'M
turned during the last three months in
his researches into the question.
Much of the evidence uncovered by
the committee has gone to show in
how many ways the use of a voting
machine may be Instantaneous TO a
voter.
Hurried in Voting.
Many complaints have been made
by citizens, according to a number
of witnesses, because the mZchine hur-
ries them for time. According TO law
they are permitted only one minute.
This, according to voters is too brlef
to permit one to learn the cOmbina-
tions, to be careful in pulling the right
levers, to scratch" the ticket and to
perform the necessary amount of mani
pulations. 1t was learned that in many
precincts of Chicago men had refused
to go to the polls because they felt
they could not vote cOnscientiously
in the brief time allotted. 1t also
was pointed out that the voting device
practically DISTINGUISHES many natural
lied foreigners who are unaccustomed
to machinery and who are unable to
manipulate it. What is true Of the for
eigners averred some of the witness
es, is doubly true of our own native
illiterates. They naturally are timid
even in the use of the simple Aus
tralian ballot, and the complex voting
machine Is altogether too much for
them. voting machine, certified by
the election commissioners own ex
perts as we'll as by representatives
of the Empire company, was used by
the committee during the proceedings
Witnesses using this machine showed
| how it almost is impossible for even
an intelligent man to cast mixed bal
| lot, such as that of the 1912 presl
| dental election, in one minute.
Destroys Secrecy.
| 1t further was emphasized by wit
nesses that the voting machine de
stroys the secrecy of the ballot. A
| person sitting outside the machine
booth can, by listening to the clicks
| of the levers, tell whether man votes
a straight or mixed ticket.
| This danger was emphasized by wit
nesses who said the use of voting ma
! chimes turns the voters of preclnc
| over to the boss. Asked to explain
this, they said a crooked election in
spector, because of his access to the
machine, could at the beginning of thu
day get a copy of the standing Of thu
reels. He can then station helpe
at a convenient place and have hin
| keep tab on the voters as they file on
by one into the booth. Toward even
ing the inspector can get another cop.
of the reels and thus be able, by com
pairing the lists of votes with the lis
of voters made by the helper, to tel
Just how each man cast his ballot.
May Confuse Count.
It also was shown that man ur
consciously may disfranchise himsel
by failing to pull the voting lever ia
enough back A number Of cases wer
cited in which complaint had bee
made against this feature Of the ma
chimes. Some witnesses testified tina
a man, ignorant of so complex
mechanism, may so ball up" ma
chine as to nullify the votes cast b
those Immediately following.
1t developed that further cause 70
complaint against the machine by vo
ers was that they had little or no OF
portunity to make themselves familia
with it, Country politicians testifie
to this saying that farmers living i
isolated communities often had TO us
! the machine without ever having see
it.
Probably the most universal caus
of complaint from the voters point {
view, it was declared, was the diff
Guilty of voting a mixed ticket on tn
machine Instances were cited wher
small election fights had been swun
wrong, because so many had faile
to understand the mechanism tho
oughly enough to vote a scratch
ticket Some favoring the use of tn
machine every other way condemne
: it on this ground alone.
: Cannot See Ballot.
= A number of citizens. opposed to til
use of the voting machines. when asl
ed to give reasons for their oppos
ton, stated that they didn't like tn
idea of voting 'sight-unseen' Whe
a man votes according to the old Au
tralian system, they said, he can sc
l just what he is doing.
prominent attorney from one cit
said: Il am opposed unalterably
; any type Of voting machine. l b
lieve the voting machine is the la
resort of the machine politicians
keep control of our ballots. The da
of direct primaries is upon us. Befol
long We will have them everywher
t That robbed the bosses Of the use
= the conventions where everything We
fixed But in order TO find some OF
: er way of stepping in between a vote
and his vote they have adopted II
n voting machine. To have control
the voting machines in Chicago is f;
( better for them than to control all Il