Ballot paper

“ Another man comes in only to find that despite the vigilance of the candidates’ polling agents—or, it may be, with the connivance of one or other of them—someone has already voted in his name. The man is asked on oath by the presiding officer if he is the person he claims to be, and if he swears that he is, a pink ballot paper officially known as a “tendered vote” is given him. ”

“ For purposes of this subclause, the term ‘individual, durable, voter-verified paper ballot’ means a paper ballot marked by the voter by hand or a paper ballot marked through the use of a nontabulating ballot marking device or system, so long as the voter shall have the option to mark his or her ballot by hand. ”

“ If the Voter votes for more candidates than he is by law entitled to vote for, his ballot paper will be void, unless he discovers the fact before the same is deposited in the ballot box, when he can obtain a new one from the Returning Officer. ”

“ All particulars of the voter—name, number on the register, and any remarks the presiding officer may have to make—are entered on what is termed the tendered votes list, which is delivered at the close of the poll to the returning officer. There is also the clumsy voter who spoils his ballot paper. ”

“ The method of voting is simple. In the polling-booth stands a table, on which are placed two square glass boxes, one empty, the other containing the voting papers. As the list of enrolled electors is read alphabetically, each man steps forward, receives a ballot paper, takes it to an adjoining table and writes on it the name of the candidate for whom he wishes to vote, folds the paper, and deposits it in the box reserved for the purpose. ”

“ The Returning Officer shall, 21 clear days at least before the last day fixed for the receipt of ballot papers, cause a ballot paper to be forwarded by post to each person qualified to vote in the election at her registered address, together with an identification envelope. Each elector shall be entitled to receive 1 ballot paper and 1 identification envelope, and no more, and votes shall not be given except upon the ballot papers provided by the Returning Officer. ”

“ At each polling-booth there was erected, under contract with the Corporation, the compartments prescribed by the Act to secure privacy to the voter while marking his ballot paper. These compartments consisted of an open movable box, with four stalls or recesses, each supplied with a small ledge to serve as a desk, and placed back to back, so that four voters might be engaged in marking their papers at one and the same time. The size of the partition prevents a voter from overlooking his neighbour either at his side or in front of him. ”

“ The provisions of the New York law are typical. It provided that "each and all ballots used at any such election shall be upon plain white printing paper, and without any impression, device, mark, or other peculiarity whatsoever upon or about them to distinguish one ballot from another in appearance, except the names of the several candidates, and they shall be printed with plain black ink." ”

“ The officers printing the ballots are also charged with the preparation of specimen ballots, which are facsimiles of the official ballots except that they lack the official indorsement and are printed on paper of a different color. They are posted about the polling-place and are usually obtainable by the voters. To enable the elector to indicate correctly his choice of candidates and measures, cards of instruction are always prepared and posted in the voting-booths and about the polling-place. ”

“ REQUIRING BALLOTS TO BE OFFERED AND PROVIDED.—The appropriate election official at each polling place that uses a printer or system described in clause (ii) (I) for the administration of elections for Federal office shall offer each individual who is eligible to cast a vote in the election at the polling place the opportunity to cast the vote using a blank pre-printed paper ballot which the individual may mark by hand and which is not produced by the direct recording electronic voting machine or other such system. ”

“ The Ballot Act requires that the nomination paper must be handed in to the returning [39] officer by the candidate personally, or by his proposer or seconder. At one election the nomination paper was given in by the agent of the candidate, and this was held to be fatal to the nomination. It was a small technical point, and since then it has come to be understood generally by agents of all Parties that no advantage is to be taken of such slips or oversights. ”

“ Study.—The Election Assistance Commission shall conduct a study of the best ways to design ballots used in elections for public office, including paper ballots and electronic or digital ballots, to minimize confusion and user errors. (b) Report.—Not later than January 1, 2022, the Election Assistance Commission shall submit to Congress a report on the study conducted under subsection (a) . SEC. 1506. - Paper ballot printing requirements. ”

“ The honorable Senator from Massachusetts says he wants to put the ballot into the hands of the black man for his protection. If he can not read the ballot, what kind of protection is it to him? A Written or printed slip of paper is put into the hands of a man, black or white, and if he can not read it, what is it to him? ”

“ The fate of the country does not depend on how you vote at the polls,—the worst man is as strong as the best at that game; it does not depend on what kind of paper you drop into the ballot-box once a year, but on what kind of man you drop from your chamber into the street every morning. ”

“ Voting is by secret ballot, and the balloting lasts one day only. As a rule, the polling takes place in the mairie, or municipal building, of the commune, under the immediate supervision of an electoral bureau consisting of a president (usually the mayor) , four assessors, and a secretary. The state does not provide ballot-papers, but one or more of the candidates may be depended upon to supply the deficiency. ”

“ If a Revolutionary Father could visit his old haunts on election day, he would be astonished at the sober decorum. In his time elections lasted three days, days filled with harangue, with drinking, betting, raillery, and occasional encounters. Even those whose memory goes back to the Civil War can contrast the ballot peddling, the soliciting, the crowded noisy polling-places, with the calm and quiet with which men deposit their ballots today. For now every ballot is numbered and no one is permitted to take a single copy from the room. Every voter must prepare his ballot in the booth. ”

“ A slot down the side of the pencil enables one to advance the lead as required. Elections call forth many ideas as to the best form of balloting. I think a very safe form of voting would be to have two large iron boxes with mechanism and a long roll of paper, proper width, with the ballots printed on it; a flat space or table between the boxes; the long paper tape of ballots would be wound up on a roller in one box and unwound into the other, the ballots to be numbered consecutively. A voter steps up and proves his right to vote ”

“ In some cases, in order to aid those who can not read, each party adopts a device, as an eagle or a flag, which is printed on the ballot. In most States a voter who declares that he can not read, or that by some physical disability he is unable to mark his ballot, may receive the assistance of one or two of the election officers in marking it.
Every ballot must be strictly accounted for. If any person in preparing a ballot should spoil it, he may obtain others, one at a time, not exceeding three in all, provided he returns each spoiled one. ”

“ Sir Thomas Erskine May, in his "Constitutional History of England," says: "Not a measure has been forced upon Parliament which the calm judgment of a later time has not since approved; not an agitation has failed which posterity has not condemned."
The printed or written ballot has been substituted for the old method of electing candidates by a show of hands or by shouting yes or no,— a method by which it was easy to make blunders, and equally easy to commit frauds. Every voter must now have his name and address registered in a printed list. ”

“ Fifthly, the slight advantage to the candidate whose name appears first practically makes no difference when the public has an opinion to express. Sixthly, the office-group form does away with the difficulty of ascertaining the voter’s intention. Since the ballot has no party circle, and as only the names marked can be credited with votes, the election officers can make no mistakes. ”

“ Sometimes the poll is badly arranged and the scrutineers are unable to see properly just how the ballots are being marked and they count up the Liberals and Conservatives in different ways. Often, too, a voter makes his mark so hurriedly and carelessly that they have to pick it out of the ballot box and look at it to see what it is. ”

“ It is evident from the brief outline of the structure of government contained in the earlier chapters, that there are a great many officers to be elected. It is impossible for even the most intelligent and most interested voter to know the merits of as many candidates as often appear on one ballot. In some elections ballots are used which can be measured only in feet, and sometimes even in yards. To remedy this evil there is a strong movement toward a short ballot. ”

“ The town was marked out into districts, and the canvassers proceeded systematically from house to house. Never before had there been so extended a canvass introduced of what they call a straw ballot in any constituency. It was, of course, not a ballot in the sense of secret voting at all, for all the citizens signed their papers, which were then taken to the central office and carefully examined. ”

“ The primary, as is the general election, is subject to numerous statutory regulations as to the time, place and manner of conducting the election, including provisions to insure that the ballots cast at the primary are correctly counted, and the results of the count correctly recorded and certified to the Secretary of State, whose duty it is to place the names of the successful candidates of each party on the official ballot. ”

“ If there is no response, and if the by-laws prescribe that the election shall be by ballot, as they usually should, he appoints tellers and directs them to distribute blank ballots, upon which each member writes the name of each office and the person for whom he votes to fill that office. ”

“ However, lest any man should be without, or should not care to use, a printed ballot, the clerk will now distribute blank slips to you, on which a candidate’s name may be written. Five minutes after this distribution has been made, I shall have the company roll called, and each man, as his name is spoken, will come forward and deposit his ballot in the box on the table. I have appointed Captain Murray and Lieutenant Brownell to be inspectors of the election. After the votes have been cast they will be counted by us, and the result will be immediately announced. ”

“ An election law of this year provided that voting should be by the voter's approaching the bar, in the election room, and naming in an audible voice the persons for whom he voted, or, if the voter preferred, by delivering to the judges a ballot which should be read aloud by them, the alternative being for the benefit of illiterate voters. ”

“ As soon as the voting is finished, and in the immediate presence of the watchers, the poll clerk shall count the ballots found in the ballot box, without unfolding them or exposing their contents, except so far as to ascertain that each ballot is single, and shall compare the number of ballots in the box with the number of electors who voted. ”

“ The requirement of filing nomination papers a certain time in advance of the election not only enables the officers charged with the printing of the ballots to do their duty, but serves notice on the public that these are the candidates for whom they will be called upon to vote. ”

“ The ballot is the judgment of the family; not of the man, merely, nor of the woman, nor yet, indeed, always of both, even. The first smile that the father receives from the child affects every subsequent vote in municipal concerns, and likely enough also in national affairs. From that moment forward, he judges constables, selectmen, magistrates, aldermen, mayors, school-committees, and councillors, with an altered judgment. The result of the election is not the victory or defeat of the man alone ”

“ Papers inadvertently spoiled by the voters may be exchanged, the officer preserving separately the spoiled papers. If a voter is incapacitated from blindness, or other physical cause, or makes before the officer a declaration of inability to read, or when the poll is on a Saturday declares himself a Jew, the officer causes the paper to be marked as the voter directs, and keeps a record of the transaction. A voter who claims to vote after another has voted in respect of the same qualification, obtains a (green) paper which is not placed in the box, but preserved apart as a “tendered” paper. ”

“ A precise description of the manner in which the ballots are physically stored, including the total number of physical groups of ballots, the numbering system for each group, a unique label for each group, and the number of ballots in each such group. “ (2) The term ‘incorrect outcome’ means an outcome that differs from the outcome that would be determined by a full tabulation of all votes validly cast in the election, determining voter intent manually, directly from voter-verifiable paper records. “ (3) The term ‘outcome’ means the winner of an election, whether a candidate or a position. ”