ELECAMPANE 



1977 



ELECTION 



These legends led to many expeditions among 

 the Spaniards, who unsuccessfully explored for 

 treasure. Sir Walter Raleigh, who took up 

 the search in 1595, described Manoa as a city 

 on Lake Parima, South America, but its exist- 

 ence was later disputed by the geographer 

 Humboldt. The name El Dorado is to-day 

 applied figuratively to any locality where 

 wealth can be acquired rapidly. 



ELECAMPANE, el e kam pane' , a sweet herb 

 especially popular in European and Asiatic 

 gardens in the Middle Ages, and still cultivated 

 there and in America. The flowers are com- 

 pound and of yellow or orange hue. The root 

 leaves are often two feet or more in length, 

 the plant itself growing three or four feet high. 

 As a tonic and stimulant to the organs of se- 

 cretion, the root with its bitter, camphorlike 

 taste was at one time popular but is seldom 

 used to-day. It is now chiefly employed in 

 the manufacture of absinth in France and 

 Switzerland (see ABSINTH). 



ELECTION, e lek'shun, the process by which 

 a free government or any organization or 

 society chooses those who are placed in posi- 

 tions of authority. In the selection of all 

 important officials safeguards are placed around 

 election machinery; the usual form by which 

 choice is made is by ballot, and some modifica- 

 tion of the Australian ballot reform law has 

 been widely adopted in England, Canada and 

 the United States. The latter country is the 

 only one whose entire voting population par- 

 ticipates in any degree in the choice of its 

 chief executive. The voters of each state, by 

 constitutional provision, choose fnom their 

 number as many electors of the President and 

 Vice-President as the number of Senators and 

 Representatives sent by the state to Congress. 

 Electors so chosen, 531 in number from 1913 

 to 1923, form the Electoral College. They meet 

 in their respective states and vote by ballot, 

 a majority being necessary to elect. 



Elections to state offices are participated in 

 by all legal voters. In some states a legal 

 voter may be a foreigner who has made only 

 his first declaration of intention to become an 

 American citizen. The man or woman in the 

 United States who is qualified under the state 

 constitution to vote for representatives in the 

 state legislature is qualified to vote for electors 

 of the President and Vice-President, members 

 of the United States House of Representatives, 

 and all state, county and township officers. 

 Elections are said to be direct, when partici- 

 pated in by the entire voting population; na- 



tional, when the officers chosen serve the entire 

 country ; state, when confined to choice of those 

 who administer the affairs of the state; local, 

 with respect to limited jurisdiction, as in a 

 county or township; indirect, or representative, 

 as in the choice by all the votere of electors 

 of the President and Vice-President. 



Registration. To secure honesty in elec- 

 tions the names of all legal voters are listed in 

 books at the polling places. Registration ia 

 required several days before election, in large 

 cities the last registration day being at least 

 two weeks before election day. The require- 

 ments vary in different states, since each state 

 makes its own election laws. In general, how- 

 ever, the voter is required to give his name 

 and place of residence, the length of time he 

 has lived in the precinct, county and state, and 

 to tell the country in which he was born and 

 the year of his birth. If a naturalized citizen 

 he may be required to present his naturaliza- 

 tion papers. On election day each voter's name 

 is checked on the polling list when he casts his 

 vote. By this means "repeating," or voting 

 more than once, is made difficult. If a man 

 endeavors to impersonate a voter and secure 

 the privilege of voting when he is not entitled 

 to it, watchers stationed at the polls to detect 

 fraud may "challenge" his right to cast a bal- 

 lot. Faulty methods of identifying voters are 

 giving way to corruption-preventing devices. 



Expense. The expense involved in conduct- 

 ing elections, including the essential items of 

 rental of polling places, printing and distribu- 

 tion of ballots and compensation of election 

 clerks, is borne by the general public out of 

 funds raised by taxation. 



In Canada. In Canada, although the Gov- 

 ernor-General appoints the Premier, that ap- 

 pointee must in advance have secured election 

 to the Dominion Parliament by majority vote 

 of the people of his district. Elections to 

 Parliament and to local offices in the Dominion 

 are participated in by male voters of twrnty- 

 one years of age or over; each province deter- 

 mines the qualifications of voters, as in the 

 states of the American Uuion. In England the 

 Premier is named by the sovereign, but unless 

 the people endorse the acts of his administra- 

 tion by vote when members of the House of 

 Commons are chosen, he must resign. K.D.F. 



Kt-lnteil subject*. The reader l referred to 

 the following topic* In these volumes : 



Australian Ballot 



Ballot 



Citizen 



Electoral ColleRc 

 Short Ballot 

 Naturalization 



