The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1920-09-10

ID making cut their tickets or look
ng on when they were not asked.
Such conduct is against the law and
vill render the election in a close
contest invalid.
The friends of Senator Moore, for
Instance, would feel very badly if he
received the nomination on the face
+ the returns, and contest is filed,
IS it may be filed by any citizen, and
:wo CT three boxes in Abbeville Coun-
v are thrown out, and he thereby
.oses the nomination. The same is
true CT other candidates.
Here is what Mr.. MCGOWAN has to
say:
LAS a member of the county exc
cutive committee l take this opportu-
.1ity to make some suggestions in the
management of the coming primary
election for the Democratic party.
In the first place, no one has a
light to vote unless his name was
rlaced upon the Democratic club roll
of the precinct on or before the last
Tuesday in July before the first cleo
ton. If the managers do not find his
name enrolled, they must reject the
application for a ballot to vote.
In the second place the ballots
must be filled out by the voters IN
the booths before they are deposited
in the boxes. This requirement does
not apply to a precinct having less
than fifty voters enrolled. The law Of
our State guarantees to the voter Sc
crecy Of his ballot and the provision
for the filling out of tickets in the
booths is to preserve the secrecy of
the ballot and to prevent undue in
huence over the individual voter. The
managers should be careful to see
that this requirement is carried out
on the day of the election. If man
cannot read, he should ask the man.
ayers to allow him an assistant to go
into the booth with him together with
one Of the managers andfn the booth
the assistant fills out the ticket as d.,
rected by the voter in the presence of
the manager. The ticket is then pre-.
sented by the voter to the managers
who detach the stub and deposit tn
ticket in the right box. The managers
should be careful to see that the vot
ers place the tickets in the right box
es. If ballot is placed in the wrong
box it will be rejected and the voter
will lose his vote.
In case of fraud in the conduct Of
voting precinct, the whole box will
be rejected and the candidates will
lose their vote at said box, but in case
of one or more illegal or irregular
votes being cast, the county eXecu-
tive committee would probably upon
a protest and contest from some cam
didate being made purge he said box
of the said votes by throwing out at
random votes equal in number to the
said votes. Thus you see that such a
procedure would injure some candi-
date in the final count of the votes,
and might change the result of the
election. The voter should be careful
to run his pencil through names he
does not wish to vote for.
The managers should write the
voting precinct on the returns when
they fill them out and the figures
should be plainly written so as to
avoid mistake of the figures. The
tabulating lists should accompany the
return so the executive committee
can see if there has been any error
in counting the votes. !
The rules of the party are design
ed to secure a fair election and cor
rect count of all legal votes. To this
end we should all strive"