Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-09-06
FRIDAY. SEPTEMBER e, 1918
Primary Election Laws.

10 held throughout Delaware for the
.lection Of Delegates 10 tie Democratic
state Convention. which viii he held IN
Dover, ncxt Tuesday, September 10.
Those primaries Will not be Of unusual
interest. as there ere only a few contests
n comparison with the number oi districts
from which the delegates will bc chosen
ono week from tomorrow the Rcpubli-
,an primaries for New Castle county VIII
70 held They will include the selection Of
candidates for county positions, tor the
legislature and for district and other
local offices Thcy viii Ec very interesting.
as there is active competition for nearly
ever, nomration The eager work Of the
candl.latcs viii bring many Republicans
to the polling places
In these nominating contests. only
Democrats viii vote ii Democratic pm
mares. and Republicans at Republican
primarieS Occasionally there are at
tcmptS. II tho primaries oi one party, e
ring III voters q the other party, hllt
the, seldom succeed On challenge, the
voter may IL required to pledge himself g
support the successful nominees. and thus
he will not care 10 10, - il would put hlm
on his honor to vote against his party Al
the general election
Ono lutcnt II the Delaware Primary
Election lav Is fo cfrsttrc voting II lll-
marx cjcet.en rs .ao .egall, oralit 81
voters 81 tic ra,, ho.d.na fhc I1naI>
and in This respect .r.rcntlN ta.r IA
other ~,arc~ .l.g panar. F..cu"n ia~s
permit i, If, na~ a,.~ Nof.nI /. primary
elections. II ria. E,s>.i.o narro on.
party b..~ j lare, natoet> 2. TIE voters.
iu- IT. u.a.. ie ...Nt.f N.'it~ iiou' lh'iF
naIfy ra.i n H. ;..stz ,.'hcr to- tfo
r,t!.,e.,e ST -,cllsIe tie roninanon~ 8;
,l.o minority f.1ty ertL,.r candidates. or
fa~,arg I,fr.I f,- ot 4 weak asprani
tai t,.c1.l.. a.t.,s. = .:.c minority party
Il u e-rcct =. q aa~t probability,
however that tlc r,...tcai workers oi thc
majority partT al. most concerned
The working, d i lav q TIL. character
-c most unjust FOR instance. under thc
PENNSYLVANIA Primary Election law, i
frequently happens especially IL Ihr hide
bound Rcnubhcan city ct Philadelphia,
that Republican aspirant 70 nomination
for public Office maY'secuTe not only the
nomination Of ms own party but that OF
the Democratic party, simply by throwing
lot OF Republican voters into the Demo
cratic primary voting This IS farce, and
also a grave injustice In such instances.
when the scheme succeeds, Democratic
voters at the election are compelled 70
resort to the expedient O. writing IN the
the Democratic candidates name, o.
employing .stickers as by voting the
regular Democratic ticket Oh the official
ballot they would vote for one or more
Republicans.
The Primary Election law Of New York
is different, but il Is somewhat objection
able because It requires party enrolment
for primary voting. When citizen regis
ters for voting at the general election, he
is gwen an opportunity OF sIgnlng Tie
party enrolment blanks, and only those
who sign these blanks are entitled to vote
al primary elections The New ! ork law
however. does not allow the outrage Of
voters OF one party voting freely and with
out restriction at the primaries Of another
party. The enrolment requirement. how
ever is obnoxious TO many citizens.
especially 10 those Of independent feeling,
as they do not care to set themselves down
publiclv-thc enTolmeuts are lot Kept
private as followers of any political
party. Hence, many refrain frCIu signing
the enrolment blanks
How much better than all others is the
Primary Election law Of Delaware Jnder
our law, primary voting is restricted to
those who register for the general election
on the first three Of the five days Of regis
tration From these registrations the
books of primary election voters are made
up As there Is ample time for all to regis
Ter during these three days, those who
fail TO qualify themselves for primary
election voting have but themselves to
blame And at the party primaries, as
We have said, voting is confined almost cX-
clusivcly TO voters Of the parties holding
the primaries 1t is not possible for 3 can
didate in one party TO secure nomination
by the other party, or for voters of one
party TO force upon the other party, by
their votes, weak or unpopular noTni-
nations. The party primaries are held on
different days in Delaware. in other States
all are held on one day, which makes easy
the unpopular interference by one party
with the other partys nominations, to
which we have alluded.
The Delaware Primary Election law
has stood the test Of experience for more
than quarter of century. 1t is the very
best in the oouaty-thc falrest, Sanest