ond primary is held at which the vote is confined to the two candidates having the highest number of votes at the first primary. As in the Polk County System, the candidates must have petitions for their acceptance as candidates. The candidates also pay a small assessment for campaign expenses, etc., and at the election in 1897 the elections were so well conducted that more than a third of each assessment was returned to the candidates after the election was over.

A peculiar feature of the Kentucky system is the requirement that when voters register they must indicate what party they expect to vote with. They are then given a chance to vote at one of the party primaries, which are held the same day.

REGIS-
TRA-
TION

The questions that now remain to be answered are mainly concerned with the conduct of voters and the system of recording the election returns. In cities of more than 2,500 inhabitants there is a registration law in force, requiring voters to register on certain days before election. Three supervisors of registration are appointed by the council for each election dis-. trict in a city. On one of the registration days2 a voter should have his name, place of residence, date and place of birth, citizenship, etc., recorded.

1 Qualifications of supervisors are stated somewhat minutely in the law. The three must be of at least two political parties; citizens of good character and voters of the precinct in which they serve; able to read, write, and speak the English language intelligently; and not candidates for any office concerned in the election in which they are supervisors. Tuesday four weeks, the Wednesday of the third week, the Thursday of the second week, and the Friday and Saturday of the first week preceding the day of the November election".

2

Otherwise, on election day he must get a certificate of citizenship from the city clerk and have it signed by two freeholders of the district in which he lives. Except in cities, registration is not

necessary.

OLD

TION

Up to a recent date voting has been open to such endless frauds that even with great care an honest election was not often secured. ELEC- Scenes at elections under the old law are LAW I still fresh in the minds of Nebraskans: challengers at the window on either side of a long line of voters, each awaiting his turn to cast a ballot; ticket peddlers by the score; electioneering on every hand, and withal an atmosphere suggesting the opposite of order, square dealing, and good citizenship. Election carousals are a thing of the past. By the new ballot laws of 1891 and 1897, a marvelous change has come over the character of election day. Now electioneering must TRA- not be carried on within one hundred feet

AUS

LIAN

LAW

BALLOT of the election place. Saloons are closed. The ballot box is removed from the window to a room fitted out with compartments, stalls, or booths. Each of these is supplied with desk and indelible pencil and so arranged that the voter may not be watched as he marks his ballot. A rail encloses the writing compartments, so that no one outside of it can come within twelve feet of them. The number of booths is required to be one for every fifty voters registered or voting at last preceding general election.

1 Six feet in country districts on account of small rooms.

i

For each precinct, three judges and two clerks of election are appointed by the county judge. The judges designate two of their number to hand ballots to the voters. Every ballot must be signed by two judges before it is handed out.

KINDS

Two kinds

Sample

of ballots are required to be printed. ballots are made ten days before election, OF BAL. So that any one may see that they are corLOTS rect. They must be on green or red paper, not on white. Official ballots, on the other hand, are only on white paper, and no one but the county clerk may print them. They must be ready in his office at least five days before election. The number of ballots that are sent to each voting place is about twice the number of voters,' and when the ballots are returned after election, there must be the exact number sent. A voter has no ballot before he is given one by a judge, and under no circumstances is he permitted to take one from the room. Upon receiving it he goes

MARK

A BAL-
LOT

to one of the unoccupied booths to mark ING his ballot. This is done by marking a cross in the circle at the head of the collumn where the emblem of his party is, or, if he does not wish to vote, a 'straight ticket', he may place a cross opposite the names of the candidates he wishes to vote for, leaving the other blank. If a ballot is spoiled he may have as many

ce

1 One hundred ballots for every fifty voters, or fraction of fifty, istered at the last preceding election in the district; or, in case of no stration, for every fifty or fraction of fifty having votes at the pre. g general election in the district, Session Laws, 1897, 222.

as four, but each must be returned to the judges before another is received The names of candidates are arranged alphabetically under each office.

The law of 1891 caused all candidates for one office to be written together, thus grouping the names of candidates under the name of the office, and not under the name of a party.

The law of 1897 changed the form so that a separate column is given to each party. When the voter has completed the marking, he must fold the ballot so that nothing shall appear on the outside except the signature of the judges.

COUNT

ING

Every precaution is thus taken to secure secrecy in voting. After the polls are closed the first thing the judges are required to do is to compare the poll books and correct mistakes until the books agree. Then the ballot boxes THE are opened and the ballots counted withVOTES out being unfolded. In case the number of ballots exceeds the number of persons voting, the ballots are put back into the box, shaken up, and enough drawn out to make the number of voters and ballots the same. The canvass must be public. The several kinds of ballots are made into separate packages and sealed, each being marked "ballots cast", "ballots rejected", or "spoiled and unused ballots". All are sent to the county clerk, who makes within six days an abstract or complete statement of the vote from all the precincts. The votes for most of the

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