Evening star., 1946-09-29
Vote Frauds CHARGED
In Kansas City's
August 6 Primary
BY the Associotsd Pyexs

KANSAS CITY. Sept. 28.-The
Kansas City Star said tonight that
evidence Of voting frauds in the Au-
gust 6 primary had been uncovered
In an investigation conducted by
two OF its reporters and the in
formation had been turned over to
Sam Wear, United States district
attorney.
Mr.. Wear, reached at his home in
Springfield. Mo, said he had re-
oeived reports concerning voting In
four precincts"
Reports concerning voting in
four precincts were submitted to nv
Office and I, in turn. forwarded them
to the Attorney General for his
analysis and recommendations"
Frauds Not City-wide.
The district attorney said he could
not elaborate at this time.
The Star said the frauds were not
c1ty-wide and did not compare with
the corruption 10 years ago which
came to head with the convictions
of 259 persons on vote fraud
charges. The paper added that
"only opening of the ballot boxes
will reveal whether the frauds
changed the results of any of the
primary contests"
In the torrid primary battle
Roger c. Slaughter, fifth district
Representative, was defeated for re-
nomination by Enos Axtell who had
the active support of President Tru-
mand and the James M. Pender-
CAST machine Mr.. Truman called .
for the defeat of Mr.. Slaughter.
asserting that he had opposed ad-
ministration- blessed legislation.
IF Slaughter is right, I'm wrong"
the President told news confer
ence shortly before the primary.
Machine Moved Quietly.
while the public was excited
over the Axtell-Slaughter struggle.
the machine moved quietly, throw
ing all of its efforts into the busi-
ness of putting its own men on the
November ticket for the two most
powerful Offices in local county
government" the Star said.
The two Offices. the Star said,
were that Of county prosecutor, In
which incumbent Michael OHern
lost the nomination to James H.
Anderson, and presiding judge of I
the County Court in which John
II. Thompson was nominated over |
Perrin D. McElroy, blind AFL labor
leader. I
The newspaper said the evidence t
supplied by its two reporters, Ira /
3. McCarty and Jack Swift indi- 6
Gated these irregularities: Il
Il. Approximately As per cent Of /
the regularly commissioned judges
and clerks for various reasons did
not serve in the primaries. The {
election board had to make hasty {
substitutions and in instances took {
lists of names from ward leaders. i
They got some phoneys. !
q. A deliberate miscounting of '
ballots. t
Says Secrecy Violated.
3.Wholesale marking of ballots
for voters by election judges with
out permitting the voter to indicate !
the candidate he desired to support.
4 A scheme whereby ballots were
cast by others in the name of per-
sons out of the city, Ill, or who did
not appear to vote. ,
IS. Violations of secrecy of the
ballot.
g. Widespread violations of the
election boards instructions on
proper conduct of the balloting.
~. Ward bosses. with new ter !
ritory by reason of recent changing /,
of ward lines. were out to make
record. A heavy vote would deter
mine their political stature with |.
the organization and perhaps gain ,
them the right to take over more .
territory with its consequent in :
crease in power and patronage" '