The Sidney herald., 1957-01-24
Man on The Street

A PLAN TO ENSURE
HONEST ELECTIONS
Princeton, New Jersey - Gu
Democratic way of life rests Of
the foundation of free, homes
elections and the right of citizen
to choose between candidates TO
elective offices.
Just so long as voters across tn,
U. S. A. have the right to cleo
the men of their choice and tn,
power to put new men into Office
when they are dissatisfied will
the way their elected official:
are carrying on their work, vii
this nation reap the rich benefits
Of a Democratic society.
1t goes without saying that the
Dishonest Election" is the great
est single domestic threat to the
American way of life.
The Readers Digest of Septem-
Der, 1856, highlighted the matter
Of dishonest elections in its ar
ticle entitled How Crooks Steal
Your Vote"
The article showed that dis
honest election practices do exist
and warned that Ballot thievery
is more prevalent than W to-
day"
Because of the. Importance of
the problem of dishonest cleo
tons to the nation, Man on the
Streets column this week offers
a plan to help ensure honest cleo
tons. This is the plan: /. Every
community a month or so before
an election should publish in its
local newspapers the name and
address of each person registered
(eligible) to vote.
With the list of registered (eli-
voters on view in the
newspapers for everyone to see
and read, people who T not
bona fide residents of a commu-
lity, or who, for one reason or
another, are not eligible to vote,
hesitate before registering.
With such a list published, it
would also not be too difficult
or impartial officials to detect
hose who are not entitled to be
~egistered: for example, those
Who have not lived long enough
the community to be eligible
D vote; those who maintain legal
esidences in other communities,
nd those who no longer are
live.
This one step - the publishing
f the names and addresses of
egistered voters in local news
apers = should go a long way
awards discouraging illegal vot-
lg.
The second and final step in
Ian on the Streets proposal
,ould be to publish in local
ewspapers a few days after an
lection the names and addresses
all those who voted and whose /
allots were counted in the cleo
On. |
u comparison of the two lists:
e names and addresses of peo- ]
e registered eligible to vote)
Id the names and addresses of s
those who did vote on Election 7
ay should determine some ir- a
(if they exist) fairly d
It would not be too diff h
.ult, for instance, to ascertain V
the number of people
10 had voted in the election \
Is greater than the number of G
cple who were registered (el- :,
bic to vote) or whether people T
I registered had voted. And :
Of checks by impartial officials
,uld quickly show whether d
ose who were supposed to have n
ted actually did so, in other E
,rds, by asking the voters. In
ort. Man on the Street is of It
: opinion that any community n
take some big steps toward d
ing away with dishonesty in II
and guaranteeing its :
liens the right to choose be- .
cen candidates and the power u
turn out of political office the
N they disapprove if it does g
ese two things: 81
|. Publish in local newspapers
month or SO before an election d,
, names and addresses of every d
,istered (eligible) voter, and G
,. Publish in local newspapers "
list of names and addresses %
all who voted in the election, Is
to the election book =
-
One further matter worth men ~
ming is the impetus the pub
hing Of the two lists would give "
voter participation %
from his knowledge of rank VI
/ file America, Man on the !.
eet is sure that many, many q
re people would register and Dc
if they knew that if they
MT register and vote, their ID
and neighbors would os
about it. d u
The Sidney Herald presents the
of Man on the Street ex- Jo
in this tie
Man on the Street in w
) newspaper. The Man on the ST
eet Weekly Feature is able to sp
der a unique public service to -
state and nation because this