The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1944-09-08
O,CONOR ON RADIO IN INTEREST
OF ABSENTEE VOTERS


voiced a hope of an amazingly large
absentee vote in November, and ask
ed relatives of service men and wom-
en- to impress upon them the neces-
sity of furnishing adequate informa-
ton to the Boards of Election Super
visors in their applications for bal
lots.
"Tke eagerness with which the SER
vice men are taking advantage OF the
Maryland law is astounding even to
the most experienced election Off
Gals" the Governor declared at the
outset.
Governor O'Conor warned, howev-
Ell, that "the inaccuracies and lack
of necessary information on the part
of the service men and women are 81
serious as to threaten the loss OF vot-
ing rights to many. 1t is to enlist
the cooperation of relatives ana
friends of the absent soldiers and
sailors that l am taking this means
of advising you of the facts, for>we
DO not want any of them to be disap-
pointed, as they will be if their eff
forts to vote are unsuccessful.
Statements have been made il
the press lately, predicting lack q
interest among Service men and wo
men, and forecasting a very llght
vote, possibly slightly over 10000
These predictions were, indeed, wide
of the mark. Up until noon Aug rs,
with the election still almost eleven
weeks off, total of 35, 499 applica-
lions for ballots has been received in
Annapolis from all sections of the
world.
"As expressing even more clearly
the rate at which these ballot appli-
cations are being received, it is OF
interest to note that on Monday, Aug
81, there were received 2,S9S; on
Tuesday, 2,245; on Wednesday
Thursday and Friday, 1881; 1854;
and 1918. For these five days there
was total of 10000, and with ap-
proximately IS days remaining be-
fore the election it is easy to appre-
ciate that today's total of 35,499 will
DG IICIcdSCQ u ~
time election day rolls around.
But in reviewing the day-to-day
operations required in the handling
of this large number of applications.
we are noting that many OF the alb
sent service people are apparently
not thoroughly aware of the require
ments as to information to be sup
piled. Frequently it is necessary for
our office to write to those who have
requested ballots and ask them for
further information as to their resi-
dence or other qualification for vot
ing.
Because it is so far in advance OF
election time, we can take care OF
these requests in this manner and be
reasonably sure that the men will
respond in time to secure tkeir ballot
and return it before election day.
However, as we approach November
Z, it may no longer be possible to do
this and the net result would be
that, in cases such as have mention
ed, the man who fails to give the
necessary lulOI Ldtici hAoy SASDJ
suffer the loss of his vote.
"Inasmuck as every application
for a ballot must be checked by the
Board of Supervisors of Elections IL
the city or county in which the man
resides, before a ballot can be for
warded, it is not difficult to under
stand that where complete and &C
curate information of this sort is
omitted the Election Supervisors may
not be able to locate the man and,
therefore, will not be permitted to
certify Kim for ballot.
"Maryland's absentee voting law
has been declared as second to none
by experts throughout the country
The extraordinarily large number OF
applicants would seem to indicate
that Marylands voters agree that it
is workable, sensible law, that
does away with needless red tape
and that really makes it convenient
for men and women alike to take
part. l say extraordinarily because
no previous emergency of this kind
in the history of our State has there
been anything like the numbers of
persons who have applied for ballots.
$50 anxious are we that every SER
vice person be enabled to take part
in the election that in our State law
we made it possible to recognize the
Federal ballot, which privilege is not
extended by the majority. of States.
But we prefer that the soldiers use
the State ballots, because by doing
so they can register their opinion as
to all the issues involved and, in ad-
dition, will have before them the
names of all the candidates which the
Federal ballot does not give"
German captives work in laun-