Evening star., 1952-11-01
Let's Get Out the Vote
Let's Get Out the Vote
There's Answer to Every AIibi
For Staying Away From Polls
By Robert K. Walsh

By Robert K. Walsh
The eligible voter who stays
away from the polls next Tuesday
might offer any number of ex-
cuseS but there's an answer for
every alibi.
A close look at main reasons
already given for failure to regis
ter and vote this year shows that
none really stands up except ill
ness or other unavoidable absence.
Besides the troublesome per-
sistence of groundless but wide
spread failures. the tremendous
registrations in Maryland and
Virginia and throughout the Ma
tion have added apprehension of
an opposite kind. It is the danger
that some voters will find polling
places closed before they nave a
chance to vote.
Votes Should Be Cast Early.
An obvious answer is that
voters should vote early in the
day and. in any event. not wait
until the last few hours. The
|non-partisan American Heritage
Foundation, active in an effort to
bring out a Nationwide vote of
at least 63 million, warns that
millions may be shout out at the
polls If only because the number
of polling places and other voting
facilities may not have been in
creased sufficiently.
Election officials in nearby areas
report that facilities and hours
will be adequate for all voters who
cooperate. But they emphasize
the intensified need to vote
early" Tuesday. Even If people in
line are permitted to cast ballots
after the polls formally close there
would be great Inconvenience, pos
sible confusion, and inability to
care for every one.
OF all excuses given for not vot-
ing one of the most extreme, but
fortunately not the most preva-
lent, was that of a Silver Spring
man who wrote: why should
anybody vote when we consider
the kind of people who are elected
as President and members of
Congress?" Although a registered
voter for 80 years, he said he
voted only twice during the last
is years. won't vote Tuesday, and
fears that "the masses are not
capable of electing" public OFF,
cialS.
Can't Blame Democracy.
That practically amounts to
saying the Democratic system of
Government is wrong or unwork-
able and should be scrapped. For
people who don't like elected Off
Gals, the remedy is to put some
one else into Office. People who
stay away from the polling place
can't reasonably blame democracy
If they don't get the kind of off,
cials they think they want.
Then, in a note from an Arling-
ton woman, there was an observa-
tion that some people, even those
who comply with all the voting
requirements, hesitate to vote be-
cause they fear they might "goI
the wrong way" She did not
mean hesitation on choosing a
candidate but on how to cast a
vote and meet the Electoral Col
lege tests.
Exercising the francise does call
for extensive handwork as well as
headwork. But voting machine
levers. manifold paper ballots or
long states of candidates and ref
erendum propositions in some
communities are not always as
forbidding as they seem. Those
operations can be learned, eSpe-
cially if the citizen well in advance
learns something about them and
what's on the ballot. The mechan-
ical job ought to be easier than
running an automobile or a wash
ing machine.
Not Academic or Outdated.
And the Electoral College is not
&C academic or outdated as itI
sounds. With all it's faults, the
system can be defended as a prac-
tical as well as theoretical part
of the constitutional provisions
relating to the powers and equal
ity Of the separate States.
The difficulty experienced by
some voters in coping with the
idea Of presidential electors is
tied in with much more danger
Gus supposition. It is that my
lonely little vote will never count
or make any difference, so why
should vote"
Many a municipal or congress
sional district election has been
won or lost by a handful of votes.
The addition or subtraction Of
only 5 or 10 votes in each of sew
eral voting precincts often would
have changed the Statewide or
congressional district results.
That process has reached all
the way up to the election Of Pres