|
From Party Tickets to S&-et Ballots 233
ened the regular party machinery by requiring that the nomination papers of
can-
didates be signed by the regular officers of the party convention. By
preventing the
printing and issuance of "bogus tickets," moreover, the Australian system
gave the
regular party organization increased control over local party officials and
the ability
to impose its will on conflicting groups, an instance of the law's ability
to
strengthen the "machine. "41
Republicans, Independents, and laborites were not satisfied with this
ballot leg-
islation but did support it as a great improvement over the previous
system. The
depth of Republican discontent was revealed, however, during the fall
campaign
when party offcials filed suit against the law, challenging its
constitutionality on
technical grounds related to the circumstances of its passage and because
it did not
apply to all counties. Their real objection, however, was against the
provision that
empowered the governor to choose election supervisors. Under the previous
ar-
rangement of having the county commissioners appoint election judges, Repub-
licans had controlled the election machinery in several counties,
particularly in
Western Maryland. Expediently employing traditional Democratic rhetoric in
an
effort to protect this partisan advantage, Republicans condemned this new
provision
as "a flagrant act of centralization and partisanship" which "cheated the
people by
robbing the counties of their right of self-government." The Democratic
State
Committee retained counsel to assist the state's attorney general in
defending the
law before the courts. Mugwurnps and Democrats of all opinions were
appalled at
"the Republican assault" upon the Australian ballot, regarding the matter
as "a
political case, instituted for parry purposes strictly," and revealing "a
good deal of
hypocrisy in this Republican cry for ballot reform." The Sun insisted that
Repub-
licans relied on bribery and intimidation to retain the votes of blacks and
Western
Maryland miners, respectively, arid therefore opposed secret voting. "Yoked
in an
unholy alliance with the employing corporations, the Republican parry is
opposed
to the enfranchisement of the workingman, the freedom and secrecy of the
ballot. "42
Maryland's courts also rejected Republican arguments and upheld the
Australian
ballot law, clearing the way for the first election to be held under its
provisions. To
prepare the electorate for the new style of voting, both Democrats and
Republicans
organized campaign schools to instruct voters in the use of the new ballot.
Parry
officials taught voters to select the right column by recognizing the party
vignettes
-the Democratic rooster, liberty tree, or Andrew Jackson portrait,
depending on
the voting district; the various pictures of Lincoln used by the
Republicans; the
Prohibitionist rose or flag. They carefully explained how to mark the
ballots, a
voter's task that had been not only unnecessary but actually discouraged
under the
party-ticket system. Finally, to overcome popular apprehension about being
"shut
up in a box" to vote, both major parties constructed voting booths and
carried
them around the state to illustrate the new system of voting at each
political rally.
Parry newspapers also used the campaign to educate the voters, printing
facsimiles
of the official ballot and detailed directions on how to vote.43
The 1890 election itself brought general satisfaction with the new system.
Al-
though many voters approached the Australian ballot experience and
especially the
booths "with trepidation," most were pleased. The major complaint in
Baltimore
was about the smallness of the voting compartments. "But even the worst
booth,"
|
