Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-03-05
DIRECT NOMINATIONS but NO
STATE BUILDING.

| STATE BUILDING.
Vermont voters Tuesday enjoyed
the opportunity to vote upon two is
sues involving a referendum which was
yet not referendum, there being Jokers
In both cases. The first and most i'm
lportant Of these involved the question
of political primaries, ana the second
the question of new State building
to supplement the accommodations Of
the State house at Montpelier.
The joker in relation to the State
building for the State library. supreme
court and other purposes is contained
in the seventh section of the act pro-
,viding for such building. which reads
as follows: This act shall take effect
July 1, 1914, provided, that II a major
ity of the ballots cast as hereinafter
provided shall be yes, otherwise July
/. 1915"
In other words the question sub
mtted to the voters of Vermont was
not whether such a building should
be erected, but whether the act pro-
viding for its erection should take eff
feet this year or next year, If the
will of the majority is carried out it
will be necessary for the next Legis-
lature. which meets in January, 1915.
to repeal the law, or the new building
will be erected just the same, in spite
of the vote In opposition Tuesday.
The Joker in connection with the
direct primary was to be found in the
fact that every man opposed to the
direct primary had a chance to vote
twice against it on the same ballot
to every chance to cast one vote for
the direct primary
The first proposition was simply "Do
you favor a preferential primary sys-
TEN whereby the voters may instruct
their delegates to political conventions
as their preference for candidates for
ofce?'
A vote for this system was mani
| IeStN opposed TO the dlreoh urinary,
while vote mo- on this question
plainly did not necessarily mean favor
hand or caucus without a preference
for candidates expressed.
In addition to voting yes on this
first proposition the opponent of d.
rect primaries could also vote mo" on
the second proposition for direct pri-
maries. which reads as follows:
DO you favor q direct primary law
whereby the voters are to vote di-
rectly for an1idates rather than the
dates for State, congressional. and
county off1ces?'
It is to the credit of the intelligence
of the voters of Vermont that in spite
of the jugglery plainly intended in this
one sided coupling Of propositions ant
the confusion that would naturally re.
suit from failure to provide simple
proposition that would give the voter
a direct choice between the three kind.
practically every town. so far as heard
from giving a marked majority in favor
of direct nominations by the people.
In Vergennes alone no less than q,
defective ballots in relation to prim
aries were discovered and similar ex
periences are reported in various direc
tions, while in other towns some Of thu
voters threw away the primary ballots
which in appearance were almost the
exact counterpart of the ballot provid
ing for votes on license and druggist:
licenses, the supposition being tina
duplicates had been received by mis-
take.
glance at the comparative vote OF
, different issues will be found instruc
: tive in this connection. In Hinesburg
for example, the total vote for license
which unquestionably represented thu
heaviest vote cast there, was 175
, whereas the vote on the State hous,
proposition was only ten less or 165
The yes vote for preferential primaries
a. and the yes vote for direct primary
IS, added together equal only 80. o.
only little more than half of thu
license vote The same thing is tru,
of practically all other towns
1t is possible, of course, that the grea
majority of voters made cross agains
only one OF the two propositions il
which event the discrepancy would b.
largely accounted for.
Fortunately the vote in favor Of tn
direct nomination of candidates by tn
voters is 80 large as a rule that over!
possible combination of the other vote
on the ballot are not sufficient 10 over
come the vote for the direct primary.
u The returns show plainly that thu