A \ 



r 



oting 



Machine for Congress 



Above : How the 

 two large regis- 

 tering boards of 

 the mechanical 

 voting system 

 would look if f he V 

 were installed in 

 the House of 

 Represen- /— < ' 

 tatives 



FOR nearly a ci-iUury, iiuciitors, 

 siiiirred on by the deplorable roll-call 

 system in use, have devised instru- 

 ments of one sort or another to enable Con- 

 gress to register its vote in a few minutes 

 instead of in the forty to forty-fne min- 

 utes which are consumed l)y the roll-call. 

 In each case it has been conchisixcK' 

 proven that a mechanical s>'stein of 

 voling would not only greatly economize 

 time, but would alst) effect a large saving 

 in money. And yet, there is no mechani- 

 cal voting system in use. If there was 

 it woulfl kill filibustering on \otes. 



During a long si-ssion of Congress a 

 iiialhemalician ligmi'd that lift\'-six da\s 

 had been {'oiisMincd in roll-calls alone. 

 A voting machine, which is now being 

 considered, has taken ninety thousand 

 roll-calls. It would gi\e Congress two 



At left: The 

 mechanical voter 

 reduced to a de- 

 monstrable size 

 with batteries and 

 connections for a 

 committee exami- 

 nation. It is really 

 a form of telegraph 

 with many key- 

 boards 



umdreil \ears' work to call the roll that 

 many times. The inventor, Bornctt 

 L. BobrolT, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 

 has installed his .system in the State 

 Legislature of Wisconsin, and it is 

 giving excellent service there. In a 

 single session of Congress he .siys he 

 can lop off thirty da>s' work by calling 

 the roll with his machine. 



ICach member \'otes by pressing a 

 button on the desk in front of him. He 

 and everybody else can see how he 

 voted, as his vote duplicates itself on a 

 large board within tlie \-iew of all. The 

 bo.ud also totals the \ote automatii'ally. 

 In the e\ent that a member wishes to 

 <hange his xote he merely presses 

 another but ton pn)\ided for that purfK>se 

 and the total of "ye.is" .ind "na\s" is 

 accordingly lorrected on ilu bo.u'd. 



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