Perth Amboy evening news., 1921-11-23
not be published tomorrow
HOW TO MAKE YOUR VOTE COUNT

fore the name which is provided for the purpose.
Had voting machines been used in the recent election
tallies would have agreed and all the other Irregularities that
have been brought out in the recount could not have oc-
Cured.
1t is claimed that the machine is too complicated; too
difficult for many of the voters to understand. Judging
from the way a great many mark their ballots, the ballot
system is too complicated for some to understand.
With the ballot now in use a voter may make a mistake
in marking his ballot and hand it in believing that it isright,
only to have it thrown out when the votes are counted. In
other words, he had disfranchised himself without knowing
it. With a voting machine this would be impossible. The ma
chine will not register until it is properly set. When it regis
ters a bell rings and until the bell rings the voter knows that
something is wrong. He looks over the machine to see
where he has. made a mistake. Probably he has pulled down
more arrows than he is supposed to vote for. He may have
voted for four assembly candidates when he should have
voted for but three. Had he made this mistake on the ballot
now in use he would have handed it in with the mistake still
on it and his ballot would, in all probability, be thrown out
altogether. With the machine, however, he is informed of
the mistake before It is too late to correct it. If he is unable
to find his mistake, however, and the machine still refuses
to register, he is permitted to call in assistance from the.
poll clerks, just as a man with a ballot today is permitted to
have assistance in marking his ballot, if he requests it.
The voting machine today is not as complicated as the
ballot. The machine that was tried out in New Jersey sew
eral years ago has been greatly improved upon. Such inven-
tons are perfected year by year. The automobile of today is
a great improvement over the automobile of ten years ago.
So with the voting machine.
Voting by machine is as simple as it is possible to
make voting. On the face of the machine are the names of
all the candidates. The Republican candidates are in one
L%5WNfhe Democratic candidates are IN another row, ana so
on. Over each name there is a small arrow or pointer. In
going down the list of names of the candidates the voter
turns down the arrow that is above the name of each candi-
date for whom he wishes to vote so that it points to the
name of the candidate, just as with the ballot he puts an
tx opposite the name of the candidate. When he has made
the different arrows point to the various names he desires
to vote for he pushes a lever and if the machine has been
set properly so as to vote correctly, the vote will be regis
tered, a bell will ring and all the little arrows will return to
their horizontal position above the names of the respective
candidates ready for the next voter to register his choice.
And voter who can find the names of the candidates
for whom he desires to vote on a ballot can just as readily
find the same names on the face of a voting machine. Any
man who can put an "X' opposite the names of the persons
he desires to vote for can just as readily turn an arrow so
that it points to the name of the person he desires to vote for.
And person who can fold his ballot to a given line and hand
it to the election clerk can just as easily pull a lever. That
is all there is to it.
AS for accuracy, does anyone dispute the work of an
adding machine? Why do banking institutions and business
houses of all kinds have numerous adding machines for all
their departments if if IS not for quick and accurate results?
Do any Of these business houses think of verifying the figures
of an adding machine by having an accountant total them
up afterward? On the contrary, the adding machine is fire.
quently used to verify any total that an accountant may have
arrived at.
When one considers the ability of the men who are in
charge of some of the polling places, when one sees the
glaring errors and the ignorance displayed by some of these
election officers and the carelessness and incompetency, one
wonders how anyone can object 10 a machine and yet be
willing to entrust such men with the count.
1t is apparent that the only way to assure an accurate
count and a fair election for all concerned is to install the
modern voting machine such as are being installed in many
parts of New York state today. With such machines in use
poll clerks would not touch the vote of the people at all.
Their only duty would be to see that everybody got a chance
to vote, that order was preserved, and when the hour for
closing the polls arrived they would open the back of the
machine and read the totals, announcing Immediately the
result for that poll in absolute accurate detail without any
doubtful ballots to be referred to a Judge. Under such con-
ditions the voters would be assured of an accurate count and
a candidate would have no ground for feeling that he had
been counted out through the rejection of certain ballots
which he thought ought to have been admitted.
In the interest of honest, fair, accurate elections in
which the results are known Immediately after the polls are
closed; elections about which there can be no dispute once
the totals are announced, the voting machines should be
adopted. If banks and business houses can put such conf
dence in machines to do their adding for them, surely the
public generally can put equal confidence in the machine to
do their totalling for elections for them. Especially is this
confidence justified when the only alternative is to entrust
the counting of the ballots, with their numerous mistakes,