Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1917-12-08
SOME INTERESTING POINTS
ON MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS

LOL puOlAS OIllSC dIAu yCC hOC OI1AS Oil
avalanche of names upon the ballot is
something yet to be achieved. One
is moved to ask, says Prof. Munro of
Harvard, "why this should be so Sc
rious problem in America when it
is such in no other country. In Eng
land it needs the names of only ten
qualified voters to put candidate
before the municipal electorate; in
France and Germany any voter may
become candidate for municipal of
flee upon his own personal announce
ment. Even in the cities of Canada,
where social and political conditions
are not very different form those of
American municipalities, any two
voters may officially nominate a can
didate. In all these countries the
road to a place on the ballot is easy
enough; yet the number of municipal
candidates is everywhere smaller than
in the United States" In the opin-
ion of the Harvard authority, who is
an expert in American city politics,
the adoption, in the United States,
of the European system here in
dicated would result in the apear-
ance of fewer names upon the ballot
than under a system demanding the
5000 names.
Though there have been times
when, in most large cities of the
United States, it has seemed "well-
nigh impossible to secure full and
fair expression of popular opinion at
The polls, most difficulties have been
so far overcome that elections are
nowadays conducted about as fairly
and as efficiently in the United
States as in any other country"
The four important matters con-
nected with election methods and
machinery upon which there is as
yet no uniformity either of practice
or opinion are: a. the date of munic-
ipal election, which is in some places
also the date of state elections, while
in others it is not; b. the polling
places, which are sometimes school
rooms, sometimes other public bull
dings, sometimes barber shops, and in
some places portable booths popular
sovereignty on wheelsD; 9 the form
and contents of the ballot; in early
American municipal history every
voter furnished his own ballot, later
on they were made upon uniform
plan and were printed; at some pc
riods ballots were provided by the
party organizations which, by their
color or form, would reveal, even
when folded, the manner in which
the voter had used his franchise; in
the latter eighties the so-called Au-
stralian ballot was adopted in our
country FUSED in England since 1922,
whose distinguishing characteristic
is not it's size or form or arrange
ment, but merely the fact that it is
printed officially at the public ex-
pense, while the older styles of bal
lots were printed by or on behalf of
the candidates at their own cost.
Our present official ballot has grown
to be quite different from it's. old
English prototype. On our ballots,
unlike the earlier English custom, the
names of candidates are arranged in
long columns according to parties;
later came the custom of putting at
the head of each column party SYM
boil, below this circle. The original
Australian ballot had none of these
features. They have been engrafted
on the Australian ballot by the Gin
fiuence of party organizations which
desired to hold their grip upon the
voters and to place deterrents in the
way of political independence" The
very appearance of the party symbol
over the list of all the party's can
didates was an appeal to the voter
to vote a straight ticket, scratching
and selection of candidates from sew
eral parties is irksome and many alb
stained from it from fear to invali-
date their vote by errors in the mark
ings. In order to obviate this party
ism on the ballot, Massachusetts, as
early as 1883 adopted a ballot with
out party column, all candidates
being grouped under the particular
offices to which they aspired. How
ever, even on this ballot the partisan
designation followed each name on
the ballot. The amended Boston
charter of 1909 marks the nrst ap-
plication of the new principle of drop
ping of partisan designations alto
gether. The precedent established by
Boston has been followed by many
other cities in the United States till
date. But even this reform is not yet