ELECTRICAL VOTING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20762, 3 January 1931, Page 7 (Supplement)

ELECTRICAL VOTING.

UNITED STATES MACHINE. ELECTIONS IN NEW YORK. At the recent gubernatorial elections in New York the new electrical voting machine was in operation. Its use was confined to New York City, where 3426 machines were in use in 3421 districts. The extra machines were operated in Brooklyn and Manhattan. The machines have been used in civic elections since 1928.

The machine is fool-proof. A voter can make as many alterations as he likes in his votp, without making ifc informal. In fact, there are no informal votes. With the ballot paper, which, by the way, is 7ft. long in Chicago, and contains 296 names, he may put crosses in the wrong places and render it invalid. He can stay in the booth and play round with the levers as long as he likes. Then, when he is satisfied that all the levers point to the candidates he wishes elected, the action of closing the curtain lever records his vote and swings all the voting levers to the unvoting position. He cannot vote twice.

The instructions, briefly paraphrased, are:—"Swing the handle of the curtain lever (overhead) from left to right as far as it will go, and leave it there. This will close the curtain around you and unlock the machine for voting. "At the left of the ballot you will find in column 1, the names of all the candidates for Governor and above them a pointer. Turn down the pointer over the name of the candidate you wish to vote for, and leave it down. In column 2, turn down the pointer over the name of the candidate you wish to vote for, for Lieu-tenant-Governor. Continue to the end of the ticket, taking care to turn down a pointer for every office you wish to vote for. To vote a straight party ticket, you would, of course, turn down all the pointers in one party row." (The party candidates ar© all together, a row being allotted to each, thus—Democrat, Republican, Socialist, etc.) "Then look at the top of the ballot and you will see the proposition that is to be voted on. Turn down the pointer over the Yes or No, and leave it down. Leaving the pointers down in their voting position, swing the handle of the curtain lever (overhead) to the left as far as it will go and leave it there. This will register your vote and return the pointers to their first position, after which it will open tho curtain. You can make as many changes in your ballot as you wish while the curtain lever is at the right. "The machine is so arranged that you cannot turn down more than the proper number of pointers for an office. No vote will be registered except that with the pointer left down. So be sure to leave the pointer down over the name you wish to vote for. There is no danger of anyone knowing how you vote, as the movement of the curtain lever returns the voted pointer up to its voted position before the curtain begins to open." . Voters are urged to practise a few times with tho instruction model before entering the machine.