The Lakeland evening telegram., 1917-02-28
Double Election
Board Created
By w. Virginia

New York Feb Indications
that one of the greatest obstacles to
the prompt announcement of election
results. such as handicapped the
newspapers in the last presidential
election. may be removed before an
other presidential year. are reflected
iii the action of the West Virginia
legislature, following the example set
by Kansas. in tn ecrva,ion of what /,
called "A Double Election Board"
The measure is hailed by West
Virginia newspapers as one that will
be appreciated by the general public
10 a greater extent than is realized by
those not familiar with the present
ei cumbrances which surround ballot.
counting. The declare that the sue
soess of the experiment in Kansas last
fall should attract attention i'm other
states as a possible relief from such
uncertainty as the whole country la
bored under for several days after
the last election.
Kansas. considering its difference in
time as compared with the Eastern
states. was the first of all states to
begin to return figures on its elec-
tion last November 9TH. This was a
surprise generally to other states un-
i'll it was discovered that the secret
oi Kansas promptness was a system
known as the Double Election Board
This system does not any sense
revolutionize present methods of vot-
ne. hut simply makes it possible that
the ballots may be counetd almost
simultaneously with the casting of
them, with the result that the vote is
OF the polls.
The Kansas law provides that at all
general elections the national and
state tickets shall be printed upon one
ballot, and the district county and
township tickets shall be printed up.
Cn another ballot, and that at each
voting precinct five separate ballot
boxes shall be provided. two boxes
in duplicate for tn neational and state
ballots, and that there shall be two
boards Of election officers, one to be
Known as the receiving board-to re-
eaire ballots and guard their proper
placement in the boxes and the 9th
er 10 be a counting broad
\ few hours after the opening of
me polls the national and state bal
lot boxes are removed from their
designated places. and duplicate
boxes placed in their stead. while the
counting board retircs under proper
safeguards, empties the first set of
boxes and counts the ballots. After
another interval the boxes are OK
changed again, and the counting pro
coded with in this manner of simple
relay throughout the day.
The old method which obtains in
all the states except Kansas and West
Virginia. requires the casting of the
ballot before any counting is done,
and this involved in some places from
81 xto forty-eight hours. delaying a
stlli greater time the compilation of
a state or national vote.
The act of the West Virginia legis.
lature in following the Kansas ex-
ample is called the Wier bill. after
James w. Wier, newspaper man
who is member of the West Nir-
ginia legislature and who deemed
that some of the clerical and mcchan.
i ical handicaps of election reporting
beoneed 10 the days when folks de.
pended upon the stage coach mail for
their news, instead of the present era
OF the telephone aud wireless tele.
graph. In West Virginia. for example,
at the last election il was a week he
tere il VISA known positively how the
state had gone, aud II was six weeks
before the exact figures were com.
piled and published.
What little opposition was met with
i'm West Virginia in suggesting adop-
ton of the Kansas method was to the
effect that the double election board
involved additional expense. hut in
q,
bill. ii is as inexpensive To work two
sets of men one day as il is To work
one set of men for two days
Ohio, Pennsylvania. New Jersey and
several of the Middle and Western
states have for many years been par.
ticularly slow in completing their re-
turns and IL ix Sn.b ,,.,I;,;r., -.