FORM OF BALLOT

Following the names of the candidates for Governor, are the names of candidates for the other offices in order.

ballots equal to the excess is drawn out by a judge who stands with his back to the box, and they are destroyed before the other ballots are read and counted.

230. Returns.-After an election for township or municipal officers, the judges and clerks certify the returns to the clerk of the township or municipality. This officer canvasses the returns and gives notice to each person who has been elected to take the oath of office and give a bond. The judges and clerks certify the returns in case of Presidential Electors, National Representatives, and all State officers, including justices of the peace, to the Deputy Supervisors, who are the canvassing board for the county. This board then prepares abstracts of all the votes cast for the several offices, and forwards them to the Secretary of State at the State Capitol, where they are canvassed and the results determined. In canvassing the abstracts, the procedure is not the same in all cases. The Governor issues all certificates of election and commissions.

231. Women's Suffrage: School Elections.-In 1894 the General Assembly enacted a law declaring that women of the age of 21 years and more, who are citizens of the United States, and have had the length of residence that the law prescribes as an electoral qualification for men, are entitled to vote and be voted for at elections for the purpose of choosing members of school boards. Further than this the State of Ohio has not gone in the enfranchisement of women. municipal school districts the election of school officers is combined with that of municipal officers. In the township sub-district there is a special election of the most rudimentary form.

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232. How Parties Originate.—In all countries where men are free to think, speak, and act on questions of government, there will arise differences of political opinion. Some men will desire to have the government carried on in one way, some in another way; and they will all wish to see their favorite ideas carried into practical effect. As separate individuals men can exert little influence upon public affairs. Accordingly, those who agree on what they consider leading questions learn to act together. In other words, they form a political party, which may be defined as a body of citizens who agree in what they consider the essentials of political faith organized for political action. Concert and organization are as necessary to efficiency in politics as in other spheres of activity.

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233. Nominating Candidates.-The only way which men and parties can give their political principles practical effect, is to secure the election of men to the important public offices who believe in those principles, and who, if elected, will carry them out.

1 Valuable information on the subject of this chapter may be found in two small books published by G. P. Putnam's Sons: The American Caucus System: Its Origin, Purpose, and Utility, by George W. Lawton; Primary Elections: A Study of Methods for Improving the Basis of Party Organization, by Daniel S. Remsen. See also Charles Nordhoff's Politics for Young Americans, Chap. xxxix., and the Century Dictionary for the words " caucus" and "primary."

But to secure the selection of such men, those citizens who think alike must act together; they must vote for the same candidates for the several offices or they will lose all their strength. Hence an understanding or agreement must be reached as to candidates. It may be said, in general, that political parties exist primarily to secure the election, and so the nomination, of suitable men to office. It is therefore necessary that, before the elections provided for by law are held, party nominations shall be made. In the United States a system of nominating machinery has been devised with this end in view. This chapter will be devoted to a description of this machinery as it works in Ohio and other States.

234. The Primary Meeting.— This is the name given to a local public meeting of citizens belonging to the same political party held to promote party ends. It is confined to a township or other precinct. It nominates candidates for the local offices, and appoints delegates to represent the precinct in some of the various conventions soon to be mentioned. This is a direct method of nominating candidates: no secondary agency comes between the members of the party and the candidate. As a rule, those persons are permitted to take part in the primary meeting who have supported the party ticket at the last general election, or who give a satisfactory assurance that they will do so at the coming election.

235. The Primary Election. This is nothing but a more formal primary meeting. The ordinary primary is conducted in such a manner as those participating may agree upon, but the primary election

is conducted under the forms of law. The law of the State provides that any political party in any township, municipal corporation, county, or district may hold primary elections for the purpose of nominating candidates for office. First, a majority of the party central committee in the township, etc., must give due notice of the election, stating its object and the time and place of holding it. This committee must name a legal voter of the precinct who is to preside at the poll, and prescribe the qualifications of persons who will be permitted to vote. The rule is that the election must be held between 4 o'clock and 7 o'clock of the day named, unless the committee appointing the election names a different time. If the supervisor who has been named fails to appear, or declines to act, the qualified voters at the election choose another, one who is duly qualified to take the place. The electors also choose two judges and two clerks of election to assist the supervisor. All these officers must take an oath that they are legally qualified to act, and that they will conduct the election carefully and honestly. From this time on the primary election is conducted in the same way as any other election. The judges give certificates of election to those having the highest number of votes for the several offices, and also make a return to the chairman of the committee. If the nomination to be made is a county or city office, then the votes from the several precincts are combined to obtain the general result. It will be seen that this also is a direct method of nominating candidates. The law provides the usual safeguards against corrupt practices. An "election," so called, at a