AUSTRALIAN BALLOT 



comes the governor, then the lieutenant- 

 governor, then the other state officials, and 

 finally the local officers to be chosen. At the 

 left of the party's name at the head of the 

 column is a circle, and if the voter wishes to 

 vote for all of the candidates of that party 

 he may put a cross (X) in the circle. This 

 is called "voting a straight ticket." If, on the 

 contrary, he wishes to vote for some candi- 

 dates of one party and some of another, he 

 must put a cross in the square at the left of 

 the name of each man for whom he wishes to 

 vote. This is called "scratching" or splitting 

 the vote or ticket. In a newer form of ballot 

 all party designations are absent and the can- 

 didates' names are arranged in alphabetical 



WM. R. BROWN 



of th City of Ottawa, Barrator. 



FRANK HAMON 



of the City of Ottawa, Artirt. 



JOSETH O'NEIL 



of the City of Ottawa, Gent! 



THE AUSTRALIAN BALLOT IN CANADA 



Ballot papers are kept in a. book in each poll- 

 ing division, and contain a. stub (white perpen- 

 dicular space shown above) and a. counterfoil 

 (black perpendicular space shown above). Both 

 the stub and counterfoil are numbered on the 

 back, and are separated from the ballot paper by 

 a line of perforations between the counterfoil 

 and the stub, and between the counterfoil and 

 the ballot paper. The stub is separated when the 

 voter receives the paper, and its number is com- 

 pared with that on the counterfoil when the vote 

 is given. 



order. In Canada the system is slightly dif- 

 ferent in detail, and is explained in the de- 

 scription under the illustration of Canada's 

 sample ballot. 



Counting the Ballots. When the voter re- 

 ceives a blank ballot from one of the judges 

 of election a mark is placed after his name on 

 the list of registered voters. He then enters 

 a curtained booth, where he may mark his 

 ballot without interference. The laws of most 

 countries and smaller political divisions, how- 

 ever, allow one of the election officials to 



496 AUSTRIA 



assist an illiterate voter if the latter requests 

 it. When the voter has marked his ballot he 

 must fold it in such a way that none of his 

 marks can be seen, but the identification marks 

 previously placed upon it by the judge must 

 be visible. The judge then drops it into the 

 ballot box and the voter's name is entered on 

 the poll books by the clerks. When the polls 

 are closed the ballots are removed from the 

 box and are counted by the judges of election. 

 Any ballots which were not initialed or other- 

 wise marked by an official must be thrown 

 out, because they could have been put into 

 the box only by some unauthorized person. 

 Ballots improperly marked are also not 

 counted. 



Greater Honesty in Elections. Under the 

 Australian ballot system most of the elements 

 of fraud are removed. A voter can secure a 

 ballot only after he enters the polling place, 

 and he marks his ballot free from observa- 

 tion. There is no mark on any ballot to show 

 who cast it. Bribery and fraud, however, are 

 still possible with the consent of the election 

 officials, but honest, fearless judges and clerks 

 of election have it in their power to prevent 

 nearly all fraud in the casting or counting of 

 ballots. 



Spread of the Australian Ballot. This form 

 of ballot was first used in South Australia in 

 1856, and later in the same year was intro- 

 duced into several other of the Australian 

 colonies. For more than a decade little atten- 

 tion was given to the new plan by other gov- 

 ernments, but finally in 1869 it was given a 

 trial at Manchester, England, and in 1872 was 

 definitely established by act of Parliament. 

 Shortly afterward it was introduced into Can- 

 ada, but for a decade no serious attempts were 

 made to establish it in the United States. A 

 Wisconsin law of 1887 had some features of 

 the Australian system, but the first complete 

 law was that of Massachusetts in 1888. The 

 Presidential election of 1888 was marked by 

 an unprecedented amount of fraud, one result 

 of which was the adoption of the Australian 

 ballot by nine states in 1889. The system is 

 now used in all states of the Union and in all 

 the provinces of Canada. See VOTING MA- 

 CHINE. W.F.Z. 



AUSTRIA, aws' tria. This name, which is 

 taken from a German word meaning Eastern 

 Empire, has at different times in the past 

 thousand years been used to denote various 

 territories; but all of these have had a com- 

 mon center. To-day when the name is used 



