Norfolk High School - Milestone Yearbook (Norfolk, NE)

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THE MILESTONE. 22 what. To remedy the first evil no one but the officers of election and those engaged in voting are allowed within one hundred feet of the voting booth. There is no way of telling how a man voted, except by his word of honor, and that from a man who has accepted a bribe certainly is not worth much. Thus is the second evil done away with. Besides doing away with these things to a great degree, this system offers many advantages. The names of the candidates are all on one ballot, and the cross-mark must he placed after the choice of the voter. In this way he must consider each candidate separately for whom he wishes to vote, and must display intelligence in casting his ballot. Here is shown the need of education, as a voter must at least know how to read. Another great advantage is that the voter is entirely alone. He is handed a ballot by an officer as he enters the booth, and must fill it out without a suggestion from anyone. As “engineering’ is not allowed at the polls, it is evident that the campaign speeches will have more effect with the populace. More care will he taken in the campaign, as it will have to be one of education. One criticism of this system is that too much time is consumed by the voter in casting his ballot, and by the judges in counting them. The chief cause for slowness in the last elections was the unfamiliarity with the new mode. The question of counting the votes every hour is being agitated. When the ingenuity of man has overcome these imper-

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The Australian Ballot System. Fred Teal. Many attempts have been made to advance a new system of balloting. The demand for this had been growing for a good many years, and honor yet remained for the country that should bring forth a perfect ballot system. It seems strange, that of all countries, Australia should have produced this. To Francis Dunton, a member of the Australian legislature, do we owe praise and honor for originating this plan. There are two great evils against which the ballot box must contend. The first is the intimidation of the voter. Under the old system, men who were dependent upon a candidate for their daily bread, were sometimes compelled to vote for him under penalty of being discharged, the candidate in many cases standing over him while he deposited his ballot. The second evil is the buying and selling of votes. Some unprincipled men demand pay for their votes from their own party candidates. And. in turn, there are some unprincipled candidates who influence votes by means of bribes. These things the Australian Ballot System lessens some-

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THE MILESTONE. 23 fections of this system, there will be a perfect one. When we are able to know, at the approach of night, who has has started on a trip up the briny stream where all defeated candidates go, then will it be universal throughout the world.