The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-10-08
Will Candidate for Judicial Place Be Required to
 Designate Division?
WHAT EFFECT WILL SECOND CHOICE HAVE?
Will Be Difficult to Detect Fraud. Burr and Shapiro Express Opin- ions-Lovelady Hopes That
 Court Will Pass on Law

Candidates who will submit their claims 1 for election in the primary next spring | admit that they are up in the airf 1 The cause Is the new election laws acted by the legislature in recent se'
 sion.
 In particular officeseekers are wor' a | regarding the following:
 Will candidates enter a scrambl
 the 10 iudgeships to be filled. or vii -aea candidate run specifically for one fN 10 divisions?
 What will be the effect of ma ers
 casting their ballots for a second choice
 candidate? Is that section of the law col
 stitutional? In the event of a contest. what asN ht the effect when no ticket will be m ksd or numbered in that the voter ca. us such ticket can be located? Burr Throws Light Borden Burr. who was chairman of the
 subcommittee of the state democratic
 executive committee which drafted tho | new election laws, furnished the follow
 ing information last night:
 ! In all elections held under the law a
 voter may vote for first choice and a second choice although he Is not com pelled to exercise his right to vote for d second choice.
 1 No voter can vote for a first choice candidate and a second choice candidate when both choices the same candi- date.
 If no candidate receives a majority of | all votes cast, then the first and ond choice votes of each candidate are added, and the candidate having the l largest number of first and second choice | votes will be nominated.
 Mr Burr stated that the Alabama la w
 was patterned very closely after the Flor
 Ida law and he believes that 1t is so ! worded in the section regarding first | and second choice voting, that there can | be no ground for complaint respecting it's consttutionalty.
 | However, pr. R. r. Lovelady, a can ddate for the board of revenue, said yesterday that this provision had been
 held by supreme courts in other states
 unconstitutional, and that he hoped the | Alabama supreme court would have an
 opportunity to pass upon the Alabama law
 before 1t Is applied to any primary.
 Must Designate Division l 1sadore Shapiro member of the legs- lature, declared last night in answer tol another of the questions outlined above | that there would be no indiscrminat te scramble for the 10 judicial berths. but | that each candidate must run for a speci-
 fled judgeship.
 otherwise" he added, 'all present | {ti1pae uolIld ha forred to entar tba rt. mary whether they have opposition or
 not, and the law, therefore, would not | operate fairly Each candidate must run | for specific berth. The law In that re- | spect is plain"
 | At least two of the many prospectvel | candidates for judicial position in Jeff | ferson county will have to make changes | In their formal announcements already 1 filed with the probate court William Jackson and Horace Wilkinson have de- clared themselves candidates for the cir cult court, whereas each court Is part and parde of the circuit court. They will be forced to state specifically which one of 10 divisions they desire to fill | Respecting the trouble incident to the | unrumbered ballot. no light can be shed | "In the event of contest said MT. l Burr, when further interviewed. ''it is true l that no fact can be developed through attempts at identifcation-as no ballot | under the law will be marked or num- l bered.' l There is some fear that this provision of the law will permit of fraud. f! Might Elect Weak Man | The purpose of the subcommittee which ! framed the new election law respecting I first and second choice voting was to ] obviate the necessity of holding sec 1 ond primary in order that candidate | may be nominated by majority vote. | Were the voters compelled to vote for l second choice candidate. in practically | every close race, the weakest of three | candidates would. 1t is believed. win; be- l cause partisans would scarcely vote for I the stronger rival of their first choice | candidate Thus itl is probable that the 1 weakest man, by adding his limited num- | Der of "firsts' to his large number of l "seconds," would have . greater total I than either of his stronger rivals. It was probably for that reason that voters were not required to vote for their second choice candidate.
 l Inasmuch, however. as there will ever | be constant danger of a weak man ! through a multiplicity of second choice votes defeating intrinsicaly stronger men, it is anticipated by politicians that l in very few instances will voters cast second choice ballots The double pri- mary will he obviated nevertheless. and