=Voting by Machine.=—In some cities of the United States the experiment of permitting the voter to record his choice by means of a voting machine has been tried with varying degrees of success. A voting machine is constructed upon much the same principles as a cash register. The keys bear the names of the various candidates and the voter merely steps behind a curtain where he presses one key after another just as he would mark crosses on a printed ballot. The mechanism is so arranged that a voter cannot press two keys which register for the same office. The voting machine plan has some distinct advantages in that it does away entirely with the trouble and expense of printing ballots; it eliminates spoiled ballots, it precludes all chance of tampering with the votes, and it ensures an accurate count. On the other hand the machines are expensive both to install and to maintain, particularly when several machines are needed for each polling place. Moreover, like all other complicated mechanisms, they get out of order, and when they do this on election day it makes a bad mess of things. It is doubtful whether they will ever supplant the printed ballot plan of voting. =Summary.=—In order that any systems of popular voting shall be permanently successful it is necessary that the ballot shall be simple, intelligible, and secret. It must not be so long as to bewilder the voter of average intelligence, and it ought to give the voter a reasonable chance to “split” his ballot without running a serious risk of spoiling it. A short ballot is a far more effective instrument of democracy than a long ballot. Another essential is that the polling place shall be adequately safeguarded against fraudulent practices of any sort and that the counting of votes shall be conducted with absolute honesty. Any corrupt practice in connection with elections is a blow at the very heart of democracy. We hear a good deal, from time to time, about unfairness, fraud, and corruption at elections in the United States, particularly at elections in the larger cities. While these things occur now and then they are much less frequent than they used to be. American elections, taking them as a whole, are conducted with as much fairness and honesty as the elections which are held in any other country. Rival parties and candidates try hard to win; they seize every opportunity to gain political advantages over their opponents, and in so doing often travel very close to the line which separates right from wrong; but on the whole they try to keep within the letter of the election laws. Transgressions of the law may bring some temporary success but in the long run they do not pay, and the politicians know it. General References F. A. CLEVELAND, _Organized Democracy_, pp. 130-191; P. O. RAY, _Political Parties and Practical Politics_, pp. 109-164; 298-321; W. B. MUNRO, _The Government of American Cities_, pp. 102-152;