VOTING IN AMERICA.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXV, Issue 2125, 26 January 1909, Page 2

VOTING IN AMERICA.

A COMPLICATED PROCESS,

Voting at a general election is simple enough iu >iew Zealand, and yet hundreds of adults make mistakes in the straightforward easy pencilling (states the, 'Post'). The operation here is the merest child's play compared with the complicated process in some of tho American States at a Presidential election. Tho issues are many, and the use of a voting machine makes the. process seem even more formidable than it really is. After the method of voting "a 'straight ticket" is explained, the elector is told how to vote a split ticket (ten candidates for tho College of Electors) thus: "First—move the operating lever to the right as far as it will go. This will open the maejrine for voting. Second—depress by pushing down each numbered key opposite, and to the right of each candidate's name appearing on tho machine, and for whom you wish to vote. When the numbered key is clown a cross will be exposed showing your choice. Third—if you desire to retract or correct a mistake, raise the numbered key that is down, and depress the numbered key for the candidate you desire to change for. Examine each key, and see that a cross appears opposite each candidate's name. If you have made your choice move the operating lever to the left as far as it will go. This will count your vote, and set the machine for the next voter." Then there is "group voting" (when -two or more persons are to be elected to tho same office, and as presidential electors or superior judges), and there is voting (the referendum) on sixteen or seventeen legislative questions. After perusing tho huge bewildering ballot paper, the elector reads: "No voter will be allowed to remain in the machine longer than two minutes."