The St. Paul echo. [volume] (St. Paul ;) 1925-1927, 1926-02-06
CITY CLERK GIVES
VOTING ADVICE AS
ELECTIONS LOOM
Statistics Show Minority Vote
Usually Decides Elections,
Political Questions.
Election Laws Changed
Applications for Transfer of
Residence Must Be Filed at
Stipulated Time.

By G. J. McGlogan, Clerk of st. Paul
With the approach of the year
1925, in which year there are to be
held in. the City of st. Paul four
elections, namely: City Primary
Election on March 18th, City General
Election on May 4th, State and Coun-
ty General Election on November
End, the same problems relative to
getting out the vote come before us.
Minority Vote.
Statistics show that vast majori-
ty of our representatives in govern
ment, as we'll as a decision in gov
ernmental questions that has been
submitted to the electorate have been
decided by a minority vote, cast ir-
respective of all the effort put forth
by those that know and realize that
if we are to have and are really to
be successful as a democracy, the in
telligent participation of the citizens
in selections of governmental officials
is necessary and that governmental
decisions should be made by an over
whelming majority of the people.
While the law recognizes political
parties, in accordance with the num-
ber of votes cast, in our mind the
largest party is, however, the Nom
Voting Party-those citizens who
stay at home and say to themselves:
my vote doesn't make much differ
ence, guess I'll not go to the polls. )"
The civic organizations, the press
and churches can assist very materi-
ally in getting those citizens who are
reluctant in doing their duty at cleo
tion times to cast their ballot.
Registration Machinery.
The Bureau of Registration, which
supervises the registration of voters
and the handling of all elections held
in the City of st. Paul, has, at the
present time, in it's files, cards for
1OO,384 registered voters. Of this
number 9,O12 reside in the First
Ward, and 1904 reside in the Second
Ward. The records of the registered
voters are filed in four different ways.
The Original and Duplicate regfstra-
tion cards are filed by ward and pre-
cinct, the Original of which is kept
at the Office at all times, while the
Duplicate registration list serves as
an election register and is sent to the
various voting precincts on election
day.
The duplicate list is open to the
public at all times, subject to reason
able rules and regulations. Copies
are made of each voters address,
ward and precinct and filed alpha
betically city-wide, also according to
street and house numbers, so as to
render this information readily ac-
cessible at all times and particularly
on election days, when merely the
VI ahy NoIOl U0 SlfGu anu
it can be quickly ascertained whether
or not the person is registered. And,
likewise, the number of registered
voters and their names at any given
address is an easy matter to deter
mine.
While all registration of citizens in
this city occurs under the Permanent
Registration Act of 1928, it must be
understood that resident requirement
for a thirty-day period of any voter
in any voting district is not waived
thereby. Blanks for the purpose of
transferring addresses will be fur
nished by making application in writ
ing or person or by telephoning Ce-
dar 261S or Interior 25677.
Residence Transfers.
All applications for transfer of
Continued on page 4)