To an American this election would seem almost farcical. For the purpose of the election the country was divided into districts, with one presidential elector for every five hundred inhabitants. Before election day two officials were appointed in each district. One of these officials compiled a list of the voters in his little subdivision. When he had looked up the voters in his district, and the names were printed and posted on some convenient street corner, this official’s duties ended. Any one whose name did not appear on the printed list had a right to go to the proper authorities and state his case. All those qualified to vote received a ballot on which they were to write the names of the electors they wished to vote for. The second official appointed took charge of the election booth on the morning of the election, and these booths were generally placed at the entrance to business houses or even in the parks. The voting places were supposed to open at 9 o’clock. The first seven voters who appeared, with the one commissioner appointed, constituted the election board. In American cities one could imagine a great rush of voters to be among the first seven, but in many of the Mexican booths that number did not arrive until half an hour or an hour after the time the booth was supposed to open. The commissioner in charge sat at the table with a list of the voters beside him, and, as the voters appeared, they indicated the names of the electors for whom they wished to vote, and the commissioner then communicated this information to the other members of the board in an audible voice. As a general rule there was no closed ballot box, but the ballots were merely laid in an open pasteboard box with a paperweight on top to hold them down. Of secrecy or an attempt at secrecy there was none. Some citizens sent their wives to vote for them with the information that they themselves were indisposed, and these ballots were accepted. It is claimed that the peons generally abstained from voting, partly because of pride because they were not able to write, but more likely because of indifference since they had never been allowed such a privilege before. [Illustration: SR. DON FRANCISCO I. MADERO. Courtesy of the Bulletin of the Pan-American Union.]