Distribution of ballots.

cases.

The names of persons nominated for office in the districts to which a county belongs and of those nominated for State offices are also certified to the county board. Each county board arranges the names of the candidates of the different parties in parallel columns, each headed by the party device, with blank spaces in which the voter may write the name of any person not regularly nominated. The lists of names thus arranged and printed form the Australian or blanket ballot, as shown in the accompanying cut.1

The county board has the ballots printed and bound into books, and then distributes them, together with cards of instruction, poll-books, and tally sheets, to the precinct officers in the county. The ballots must be delivered not less than three days before election.

Time of elections.

30. MACHINERY AND CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS

The law declares that all elections must be by ballot, and provides the necessary officers and machinery for the conduct of elections. It also fixes the time for elections. The general elections for State and county officers are held on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Most of the State officers are chosen in the odd-numbered years, and presidential electors every fourth year counting from 1880. The township and municipal elections are also held in November under the new Chapman Law. The law further provides that the

1

Election Law of 1904, § (2966-22) ff. The ballots have been prepared under the Australian ballot system since 1891.

2 Ibid., §§ 2978, 2968, 1442, 1723; Chapman Law, § 222.

Officers and boards of election.

Registration of voters.

polls shall be kept open from half-past five in the morning until half-past five in the evening.1

The elections are conducted by a number of officers and boards. The secretary of state is the State supervisor and inspector of elections, and appoints four deputy State supervisors for each county, two from each of the two parties casting the largest vote at the last November election. The supervisors for each county constitute a board which not only regulates primary elections, but supervises registration and arranges the voting districts or precincts within its area so that each shall contain as nearly as possible two hundred voters. These boards also appoint the precinct officers who preside at the polls on election day. We have already seen that the county boards prepare the ballots, and distribute them together with the pollbooks, tally-sheets, etc., to the precinct officers.

In cities with a population of 14,000 or over, voters are required to register before they may cast their ballots. This is done to prevent fraudulent voting. In such cities two registrars and a clerk are appointed for every precinct. These officers record the names of applicants entitled to vote in the precinct, on days designated for that purpose. In the larger cities a general registration is held every year on four days before the fall elections; in the smaller cities only once in four years on the appointed days preceding the presidential

1 In Cleveland and Cincinnati the polls close at 4 p. m.

2

Bates, Statutes, § 2926a. The present registration law, passed in 1904, requires registration in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Columbus, Toledo, Dayton, Youngstown, Akron, Springfield, Canton, Hamilton, Zanesville, Lima, Sandusky, Newark, Portsmouth, Mansfield, Finlay, East Liverpool, Lorain and Steubenville.

election; but in the latter case there is an additional yearly registration for new voters, and indeed no election is allowed to pass without an opportunity for registration. On the registration days the places of registration are open from eight A. M. to two P. M., and from four to nine P. M. Those kept from registering on the regular days by sickness, physical disability, or enforced absence from the city, are permitted to register by affidavit. If the right of an applicant to register is doubted, he may be challenged by any elector present, and must then take oath to his right to register and vote in the precinct.1

registered

Certified lists of the registered names are submitted Lists of to the board of supervisors, and these lists are copied voters. into the books to be used by the precinct officers at the approaching election. Two printed copies of the list of voters of the precinct must be posted up at the polling place at least three days before the election.2 This makes possible the detection of mistakes or fraud in registration.

places and

The places of registration and holding elections are Election appointed by the board of deputy State supervisors, furniture. which also provides the proper furniture and supplies. The supplies include registers, maps, oaths, certificates, and blanks of various kinds. The furniture for the voting or polling places consists (1) of a sufficient number of voting shelves at which electors may conveniently mark their ballots behind screens which

1Certificates of removal are supplied to heads of families moving to another precinct after the time for registration is past, and also to voters who have registered in the wrong precinct by mistake.

The precinct

officers and their duties.

Challenging

of voters.

protect them from the observation of others; (2) a guard rail so placed as to prevent all persons, except the officials inside of the rail, from approaching within six feet of the voting shelves; and (3) the ballot box, which is also inside of the rail, and in which the elector deposits his vote before passing outside. The law permits the officers who provide the election supplies to submit the question of using voting machines to the electors of their respective districts. If the question carries, voting machines are thereafter used in the districts adopting them.1

The precinct officers consist of four judges and two clerks of election, who are appointed annually. Not more than two of the judges and one of the clerks may belong to the same political party. These officers open the polls at five-thirty A. M., and if any judge or clerk is absent, a substitute is chosen by the bystanders. One of the judges has charge of the ballots and delivers them to the voters; another judge receives the ballots after they have been marked by the voters in the booths, and deposits them in the ballot box; each of the remaining judges has a list of the electors of the precinct on which he checks off those who have voted. Each of the clerks is supplied with a poll-book in which he writes the names of the persons voting.

Anyone suspected of being disqualified to vote in a given precinct may be challenged by the judges, by an elector, or, in city precincts, by a party challenger appointed by the party committee. This committee has

1

1 Bates, Statutes, §§ (2966-54). In case, however, sixty-five per cent. of the electors petition for voting machines, the election officers are instructed to provide the machines without submitting the question to vote: Ohio Laws, vol. 95, 419-421.