Politics of AlabamaManning, Joseph C. (Joseph Columbus)
History
Politics of Alabama
Manning, Joseph C. (Joseph Columbus)
Alabama -- Politics and government
"The law should be captioned, 'A Bill to be entitled an Act to
Perpetuate the Frauds which have heretofore been practiced in
Alabama.' It is very ingenious in its draft, very adroit in its
omissions and very mischievous in its operations. The principal
idea in the bill is that it absolutely puts the control of
elections in this state into the control of the inspectors of
elections, by making everything about voting so hedged about by
secrecy that it is impossible to ever get the evidence of any fraud
that may be committed, and by making them the absolute directors
and controllers of those who may not be able to read and write. The
principal omission of the bill is that it does not provide for the
appointment of inspectors from each party or faction, or rather
fails to make provision for the enforcement of the existing section
in the code which provides for it, effective and certain to be
enforced. All the frauds in the elections are due to that defect.
The probate judge, clerk and sheriff do not pretend to enforce the
law fairly. Appeal to the courts to secure enforcement is a farce,
as appeal from the decision of the court delays the application of
the remedy, if the supreme court should order it, until after the
election shall be past. Each party or faction should be guaranteed,
under a heavy penalty upon these officers, fair and just
representation in the management, by having at least one inspector
and one clerk--those, too, whose names shall be suggested; for to
appoint one ignorant, careless or indifferent inspector, to watch
two inspectors and two clerks, is folly. The average ballot-box
stuffer can count out every time, when that is done. One man is
needed to watch the one who reads the ballot, and another to watch
the clerks. Without these two, the 'slick' artist can count out
every time. This omission in the bill makes it safer than the
present law, for a voter can now keep a list, and those of his
party can give their names and voluntarily tell him for whom they
voted, and thereby afford evidence available in a contest. This
bill purposely does away with this right by putting all the power
in the hands of the inspectors and keeping everybody fifty feet
away from any evidence whatever. The law is almost wholly devoted
to how voting shall be done. Nobody is concerned about that.
Everybody wants to know how the counting will be done, or how the
stuffing will be prevented. That power is kept securely in the
hands of the inspectors, and the inspectors' appointment is equally
as firmly kept in the hands of the judge of probate, clerk and
sheriff. That may seem a very adroit way of perpetuating fraud, but
it is neither smart, shrewd nor fair.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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