The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1914-05-13
MUST take ACTION
NC MAH0N URGES DEMOCRATIC
PARTY TO GUARD PRIMARY
MUST Protect BALLOT

/ NeOU u AsO NSs
Should Prescribe for Voters in its
Primary Elections the Legal Quail
fications Of Suffrage, as Required
/ in Municipal Primaries in Commits
; sion Government Cities.
/ Our statutory regulation Of the pri-
imary Is directed chiefly against
frauds by the managers Of the elec-
| tions and against bribery by candi-
). dates and voters. It's general provi-
isions against fraudulent and corrupt
violation OF the rules OF the party
hardly touch the officers who make
iup false lists of PEI Ions who are to
be allowed to vote in the primary.
How prove that there was fraudulent
Ior corrupt intent and not mere error
OF fact? Here is the fatal weakness
OF our present system.
Registration and Tax Receipts.
The best guarantee Of honesty in
the preparation Of the lists OF voters
lfor the primary is to require that
Those who are to vote in the primary
|shall prove their qualification to vote
in the general election-show county
registration certificates and tax re-
ceipts. These are established meth
t;ods Of Identification that can not
ioften fail.
] Fraudulent ''registration" more
lover, can never be as easy as fraud
(ulent enrolment upon club list.
THE one is conducted by an official
I board Of three for the entire county,
i with conspicuous responsibility and
publicity and strict statutory GRIM
!inal liability. The other is conduct
ed in casual informal manner by a
Escore or hundred different individ-
uals acting each by himself for one
club, often in a remote and secluded
part Of the county, not under oath
and with little prospect Of being
caught up with as to his delinquen-
lcies. Almost any frauds, even if dis
covered, can pass as errors OF lgno-
trance under such circumstances.
incompetent or Dishonest Club Officer
Tighten up the rules as we may
Iprescribe a beautiful system Of CEN
isus taking and card indexing; never
Itheless, who can fully check up the
work or guarantee that partialities
have not been shown? In the numer-
GUS dispersed localities Of one county
the enrolling officers will be Of differ
Fent degrees of intelligence and truth
Ifulness and power Of resistance to
ltemptations to cheat. The rules will
not be observed with approximately
lequal fidelity. There can be no sys-
Itematic watching, as there can be at
1.-THE county registration and as there
Esenerally is at the ballot box.
l. There is little need for any safe
tsuards in simple rural communities,
swhere everybody knows everybody.
but careful registering even there
Ishould be cheerfully submitted to,
Notwithstanding any inconvenience,
for the sake Of the benefits to be de-
lrived by the protection the system
will afford these rural votes against
being nullifed by fraudulent votes
elsewhere.
Publicity Prevents Frauds.
The dangers of frauds are in con-
gested centres, where no one can
know everybody. and the officer may
The imposen upon by fraudulent appli-
icants for enrolment, or many him
lself be a party to fraudulent enroll
ling, and yet detection will be diff
|cult, and proof Of corrupt motive and
consequent punishment almost i'm
possible.
IF frauds are to be prevented or
lmade rare, the light to publicity must
ishine not only at the ballot box but
on every prospective voter for at least
l30 days before he votes. No voter
|should pass without scrutiny-with-
out giving an account OF himself
where he is from and how long he
has been there. No such effective
. machinery for this scrutiny can be
, provided as legal registration and tax
tpaying.
The necessity for listing those who
shall have the right to vote and keep
ling a record of those who do vote, is
-.lererywhere conceded; and yet siren
,tuous objection is raised to the legal
listing-the constitutional "registra-
, ton! Why? Because it is strictly
under the protection Of law and
,, means what it. says?
, Safeguards Always Inconvenient.
It is true that legal registration
may sometimes appear ann"":1g in
its red tape and that in exceptional
leases it may work hardships. But
all safeguards are inconvenient-the
quarantine regulations, the pure food
} inspections, the dog licenses. This Is
/ the day Of regulation in the interest
: of the public-to guarantee the gen
: uine article. We should be content
! with nothing less in the electorate.
:, Those that suffer by it are suffering
: for their country's good.
The denial of the vote under the
constitution because Of insufficient
length of residence may seem purely
tartifcial in the case of desirable
! voter. But he should as a patriot be
! glad Of the rule which thus debars
T him when he reflects that for every
, man Of his type so deprived OF the
= ballot more than one fraudulent vote
Imported or peripeteitic, will be pre-