VOTING MACHINES. 



761 



almost every subject about which information 

 may be imparted. The free visual instruction in 

 the city of New York was begun thirteen years 

 ago in only a few centers and 

 at a small expenditure of 

 money. Each year the system 

 has been enlarged by the ear- 

 nest demand of the public for 

 this form of education, until 

 it is now come to be recog- 

 nized as a prominent and im- 

 portant branch of the city's 

 educational work. In the past 

 year a similar system of free 

 public lectures to the people 

 was inaugurated in Brooklyn, 

 under the auspices of the 

 Board of Education of that 

 borough. 



VOTING MACHINES, me- 

 chanical devices used in place 

 of paper ballots in elections, 

 which also count and add the 

 votes cast. Some operate by 

 the deposition of balls or disks, 

 some by perforations in a sheet 

 of paper, which are afterward 

 counted, and others, of the self- 

 registering type, are supplied 

 with an indicator adjacent to 

 the name of each candidate, 

 which is operatively connected 

 with an internal mechanical 

 register one for each candi- 

 date. In this last type of ma- 

 chine the voter makes his selec- 

 tions by placing the different 

 indicators in position to signify 

 his choice of all the candidates, 

 and by the subsequent opera- 

 tion of a lever or turnstile 

 registers his selections as in- 

 dicated. 



According to the present elec- 

 tion laws in force in the United 

 States, a voting machine must 

 be so constructed that it en- 

 ables a voter to cast his vote 

 in secret; that it counts positively each vote cast; 

 that it permits a voter to make such selection 

 among the candidates as he wishes for all of one 

 party, or in part for those of one party and in 

 part of those of other parties; that it permits the 

 voting for persons nominated by any party, and 

 at the same time prevents voting for candidates 

 in excess of the number to be elected; that it be 

 convenient in its operation for the voter, with 

 little instruction, and so constructed that it may 

 be arranged for use by unskilled persons; that it 

 be so constructed that it will not become inopera- 

 tive during an election ; that it be so arranged that 

 the blind and illiterate are able to operate it with- 

 out assistance; that it will permit a voter having 

 made an error to change his vote while in the 

 booth; that it will permit voting for or against 

 questions or amendments; that it will permit the 

 voter both to indicate and register his own vote, 

 and place it beyond the power of any one else to 

 deprive him of it; that it will permit limited 

 voters, women and certain nontaxpayers, to vote 

 for certain candidates and on certain questions, 

 and at the same time prevent them from exceeding 

 their privileges. 



In 1848 a patent was issued in England for a 

 mechanical device for the registering of votes, but 

 no voting machine was manufactured until the 

 invention of the Myers ballot machine in Roch- 



ester, N. Y. The Myers machine consisted of a 

 steel booth 5 feet square and 7 feet high. The 

 voter entered by a door, which was closed, and 



A VOTING MACHINE IN USE. 



found names of candidates arranged in the form 

 of an Australian ballot upon one side of the ma- 

 chine, and opposite each candidate's name a push 

 knob, which the voter pressed to indicate his 

 choice. Then by his passing through a small ves- 

 tibule and out of an exit door, the mechanical 

 counters of the candidates he had chosen were 

 actuated and the machine was arranged for the 

 next voter. The Myers machine was first used 

 in April, 1892, and for a few years following, with 

 some success, but for some reason the manufacture 

 was discontinued in 1898. 



The United States voting machine, manufac- 

 tured under the S. E. Davis patents of 1894 and 

 1895, is arranged to be used without the aid of a 

 booth, the face of the machine being turned away 

 from the public, and screens at either end of the 

 machine rendering the casting of the ballot secret. 

 In this machine the party nominations are ar- 

 ranged in horizontal lines from left to right, and 

 below each candidate's name is a small pull knob, 

 which is connected with the counter for that can- 

 didate, and at the left of each party line is a large 

 knob, the pulling of which will vote a straight 

 party ticket. The ballot may be cast by first 

 pulling out a party knob and returning the 

 knobs of such candidates as are not to be voted 

 for, and in their stead knobs pulled out for such 

 candidates as are desired. Or the voter may, if 



