The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1914-01-28

Know or tnelr prepaTdtlOu. Lucy dl
designed solely to assist the mass Q!
Democratic primary voters to clean
house. Bills to this end will be acted
on in the next legislature and ou1
readers are, Of course, interested IN
the subject at this particular time.
Do Your Own Thinking.
Few are found to oppose all pri-
mary reform. Those against change
cloak their purpose. They do not de-
fend present conditions-that is a
hopeless task. They stand back and
object to each change suggested, say
ing it will take the ballot away from
the poor man or the man who can
not write. These objectors give no
reasons for their charges, nor DO
they offer other measures. Men are
expected to follow them blindly.
Every man should do his own
thinking about these primary
changes. The troubles are before us,
and known of all men who care to
look. The remedies proposed are
very easy to understand.
The Remedies.
Permit the voter to enroll on only
one club list, and only in the precinct
where he lives or works.
Record the poll lists at the court
house before and after voting.
Identify the voter at the ballot box.
Where important requirements are
violated hold another election.
These safeguards are those adVo-
Gated by experienced party workers
from all sections Of the State, they
have been gathered from discussions
on many occasions during many
years. Leaders in the legislature
who oppose extreme measures came
to a pretty general agreement at the
last session to support bill embody-
ing these points. Let US examine
them, taking the last one first.
The Penalty.
Penalties are seldom enforced.
Why? Because they seek to punish,
but not to remedy-not directly.
The law says the manager who
does not carry out the rules shall be
punished. But the defeated candidate
doesn't care to prosecute him, the
public is not interested enough to-.
Neither are out for revenge, nor seek
ing the unpleasant task of preventing
future fraud by present punishment.
The candidates are interested in
the immediate outcome, though.
They and their friends will go to a
lot of trouble to locate fraud if it will
do them any good. Give them the
right to a new election whenever the
law is violated in the important par
ticulars anr they will watch for ir-
regularities like hawks. Then viola
tions of rules will Immediately defeat
their purpose and become useless.
Mind you, new elections would be
held only when important specified
infractions of the law could be shown,
not for trivial irregularities. This
would necessitate making each step
in enrolment and voting plain, and
open, and recorded where all men
may examine what has been done.
To-day everything is so. obscure
that even where much fraud is prov
ed, and more believed, it is about i'm
possible to upset an election. This
power to upset an election would be
a weapon more dreaded than any
punishment now set down in the law
books.
Protecting the Lists.
It is absolutely necessary at any
kind of an election to have a correct
list of those entitled to vote.
The club rolls should be made up
some weeks before the election and
sent to the county clerk of court.
Shortly before the election the clerk
should send copy Of each list to the
election managers of each club.
After the election the county execu-
tive committee should send the rolls
back to the clerk.
This system allows the lists to be
examined by all interested parties,
and opportunity to have names put
on or taken off on proper showing,
before the election. After the elec-
ton any one may compare the voting
list used with the copy kept by the
Clerk. and the failure to use the
proper list becomes a matter Of rec
ord.
At present, even where the rules
are carried out, and poll list is
used, it is about impossible, in the
FIVE days allowed now, to check it up.
How can candidates in populous Sec
tions tell in five days before the
election whether the names put on
at the last minute are fraudulent or
not? The candidate is helpless.
Identify the Voter at the Ballot Box.
Managers in big voting precincts
seldom know all the voters in them.
When a man presents himself to cast
his ballot and gives a name found on
the poll lists he is allowed to vote
unless the managers know he Is not
the person he represents himself to
be. The burden Of the proof is on
the manager. His task is doubly diff
fcult because the rules allow man
to enroll his name up to five days
before the primary, in precinct
where he does not reside, and in as
many as he likes. He may move into
the town on the path, have his nane
put on the poll lists in Rock Hill by
third party and vote in the latter
town on the 30th.