The times-news., 1938-12-16
HOEY silent
ON ABSENTEE
YOTEPRObLEM
But "Open Season" on Alb
sent Voting Seen When
Solons Gather
s; By DAVE WARNER
J,;teJ Press Staff Correspondent

RALElNH, bCS- w. -
will be "open season" on the ao-
sentee ballot when North Caro-
Ina's legislators assemble here
next month.
4 majority of senators and
representatives who answered a
United Press poll want either to
repeaI the absentee voting law
entirely or change it radically. Al
least four, two in each house,
said they were prepared to IN
troduce bills calling for outright
repeal. ~.
Clamor for change OF abolition
of the long-diStance ballOt-castlng
has grown steadily since last
summers primary elections. Con-
yentions. private organizations,
conferences, have asked the gen
eral assembly to alter or outlaw
it. NJ.
The fom-month Deane-Burgm
contest for Democratic congress
sional nomination in the eighth
district poured oil on the hre OF
hatred for the absentee ticket.
". A. Lucas. state election
hoard chairman who Steered the
fiye-man agency through the
eighth-distriet storm, will have
his recommendations ready for
the legislature soon. He has not
said what they will be. He is eNh
pected, however, to plead for
complete repeal of absentee vot-
ING on the ground that whatever
good it accompliSheS is far out
weighed by the fraud to which 1t
lends itself.
North Carolina adopted the ab-
sentee ballot y years ago. lt had
the admirable purpose OF letting
public-Spirited citizens vote even
though they were sick on election
day or forced to be out Of the
county temporarily.
But like many other things de-
signed for fortnight purposes,
it's chief weakness is the ease with
which unScrupulouS persons can
use it as a medium for cheating.
Some of the most often heard
against the absentee
are that by it's use: dishonest cleo
ton officials can place on bal
lot the name of qualified voter
without either his authorization
or knowledge; dishonest persons
for a candidate OF party
can carry "armloadS" of absen-
tee tickets through the country
side and have them voted by
persons who had no intention OF
going to the polls, often after So
Iicitation of their vote.
Opponents assert there Is evl-
ienee of either fraud OF irregu-
aritv "on the face" of the fact
hat several counties regularly re-
port large percentage of absen-
lees. Of 1900 votes cast in one
last July, about 1000 were
ibSenteeS.
Governor Clvde r. Hoey, fac
ing the task of making recommen-
dations to the legislature, is non
committal on. the absentee queS-
ton. He is known to believe, how
ever, that absentee balloting is
not the only phase of election ma
chmery that could bear study and
revision.
Political observers have pre-
dicted that the eastern part of the
state, as a whole, would fight for
repeal of the absentee and the
west, as a whole, against either
abolition or change.
Replies to the United Press
questionnaire, however, showed
about an even division between
eastern and western counties both
in the proponents of repeal and
those who want to keep the alb
sentee. ..-
Willie Lee Lumpkin of Frank
lin county, who viii be in the SEN
ate this time, announced as early
as last July % that he and c. W.
Spruill of Bertie county would
these three measures:
/. Repeal of the absentee bal
lot law.
z 2. Repeal of the act allowing
markers" at polling places.
3: To forbid any person except
the one actually voting to enter
a polling booth.
Ashe county Republicans charg-
ed before the state elections
board last month that a Demo-
cratic marker" took advantage
of a near-blind Republican voter
and, contrary to the voters wish
es, marked his ballot for Demo-
cratic candidates.
Should Lumpkin and Spruill
change their minds about offer
ing the election bills in the sem
ate, Virgil A. Wilson, Forsyth
representative, has prom
ised to offer absentee repeal in
the lower house. Representative
r. S. MeNair. of Richmond coun-
ty said he viii introduce the re-
peal bill "if someone else does