The New York herald., 1921-08-28
MANY DODGE VOTING
ALLOVER ARGENTINA
Compulsory Law Is Evaded
and Courts Are Clogged
With Ballot Cases.
NUMEROUS BLANKS CAST
New Law Making Elections Sc
cret Increases Number Ex-
ercising Suffrage.
BIZ n. Associated Press.

BU the Associated Press
BuENos AIRES, Aug. 17.-Students OF
American politics who have observed
/ the operation of the compulsory regis
/ tration and voting law of Argentina
have discovered that a large number
OF persons registered and entitled to
vote in that country still keep away
Il from the polls.
4 Although penalties are imposed by the
/ Argentine law, its strict enforcement
/ has been found impracticable, especially
in the large population centres. The
! cases of failure to vote are still so
numerous that the courts would be
ciogged with them If they did not ac-
cept the excuses Of thousands who plead
! inability TO vote because of Illness, abb
! sence from home or other reasons.
| Nevertheless, the Argentines believe
\ the combined features of compulsion
i and secrecy in the law. which were
adopted III 1911. have proved q success
4 because. under its operation, the number
Of voters has increased to more than
IS per cent OF the number eligible
Prior to enactment of the measure
the apathy and indifference of the
Argentine elector probably was as great
as in the United States, or greater.
owing mostly to the disbelief here in
the honesty of elections.
The law requires the registration of
every male citizen of Is years for the
purpose of voting coincidently with his
registration for compulsory military SER
vice. 1t imposes a fine of 10 pesos or
forty eight hours imprisonment for fail
ure to cast a ballot at national election
In the Presidential election OF 1910,
prior to the enactment of the compulsory
law, when the population of the country
was a little more than 100000. only
I'M 2o4 cif1ZanS Nplun a,.fIt Ial ,,I
442,562 voted. A considerable number
OF these votes IL is generally admitted
represented the activities of ''repeaters."
In the Congress elections of 1912, the
first held under the secret and compul-
sorry law, 932,401 We're registered and
640.S52 voted. an increase in the number
of voters of about As per cent
In the 1916 Presidential elections.
when the population was 100000, the
number of registrants had increased to
1.189.264, of which 745,S25 voted, or an
Increase in voters over 1910 of 6S5 per
cent.
In Buenos Aires. the Federal capital.
with its population of 100000, the pro-
portion OF non-voters to those registered
was only 20 per cent. This was ascribed
to the keener interest in politics there.
Comparatively few of those who failed
to vote were fined.
The Argentine law fails to prevent
voters from casting blank ballots. Some
do and there is no way of identifying
them. AS in the United States, the
voter gets ballot that cannot be iden-
tilted afterward. He may therefore
merely go through the form of entering
the booth, sealing an unmarked ballot
In the envelope provided for him, and de-
posting it in the ballot box outside and
thereby comply with the law.
H. a.~1, f.-ir. aI.e
by means of the military enrolment and
are identified at the polls by the '1ibreta
de enrolamiento" that every Argentine
youth must possess upon reaching the
age of eighteen and which he pern1a-
nently preserves. This contains his
photograph. thumb print. physical de-
scription and blank spaces upon which
the elections officials place their seal
when he votes.
This system has virtually eliminated
fraudulent voting in Argentina. RE
peaters" no longer flourish The only
possibility OF fraud is in the counting OF
the votes.
The frst national election under the
secret and compulsory law resulted in
triumph OF the Radical party, which is
still in power. This party had contended
that under the old law 1t had been
robbed Of elections by fraudulent voting
and at several elections its followers alb
stained from the polls. saying 1t was
useless to vote. With the passage of
the new law II entered the congress cam
paign Of 1912. under the leadership of
Hipolte Yrigoyen, won the elections. and
in 1916 elected Yrigoyen president.
Although apathy and Indifference to
elections by persons of voting age in the
United States have long been subjects
OF complaints. statistics showing the
number who fail to go to the polls in this
country are not available for comparison
with those OF Argentina
The 1910 census showed there were
then In the United States 55,554.905 per-
sons over 2t years old. OF these
26,999,151 were men and 24.555.754
women. The total vote for President in
1912 was little In excess of 5000, 900
The census figures for 1920 on persons
OF voting age have not yet been made
public. The foregoing figures would
not represent accurately the number OF
persons entitled to vote, as they include
aliens and others disqualified by restric-
tions imposed by the different States.