ELECTORAL SYSTEM of the United States. All elections, whether for city, State or Federal offices, are in all States conducted by ballot. To save the expense of distinct pollings, it has been long usual to take the pollings for a variety of offices at the same time. The details of the procedure previous to, during and after election are thoroughly covered by posi tive enactments. These deal specifically with registration, the election process, counting of the votes and the various safeguards instituted for the purity of elections.
Official lists of voters are prepared in advance by registering those eligi ble to vote. Personal registration, usual in the larger centres of population, requires the per sonal appearance of the prospective voter at the registration office. Registration by official declaration is common in the less densely popu lated regions; the local authorities make up the list, but a revision may be demanded by any interested party. A personal identification law is in force in some large cities in order to pre vent false registration. Counties and cities are divided into small parts, each with a few hun dred votes. The election is controlled by official boards made up of the two parties standing highest at the previous election. The ballot is printed at the public expense and except in Georgia and South Carolina the secret ballot has been adopted. In general the ballot con tains the names of all candidates which are placed in party columns, although the Massachusetts ballot includes the names of all candidates under the title of the several offices. The voter on entering the polling office states his name and address, which are entered in the pollbook by a clerk. He is next handed a ballot which is often numbered to correspond with the number on the pollbook, the voter enters the enclosed space provided in the polling place, prepares his ballot, folds it as required by law so that the markings are concealed. He next hands it to
the election officer who deposits it in the ballot box. The right of an elector to vote may be challenged for cause, in which case he is put under oath to answer certain questions regard ing his qualifications as a voter. When the polls are closed at the legal hour tally sheets are taken up by the election officers. The ballot box is opened and the ballots are withdrawn one by one. The chairman announces the names of the candidates voted for and the officers duly mark their tally sheets. At the close of the count, the results are officially announced. Tally sheets and pollbooks are next sealed and delivered to the custodian designated by law to guard them. The ballots are also sealed and sent to some central authority where they are kept for a certain time in case they may be needed if an election be contested in the courts. • Bribing or bestowing gratuities to influence voters at elections, the acceptance of such gratuities, voting by a person not properly qualified, threats, violence or intimidation of voters, voting more than once, "colonizing,D inducing voters to remain away and any other attempt to influence the proper course of an election are severely punished by statute in all the States. Considerable legislation has been enacted in recent years in an effort to control the use of money at elections, many States re quiring a sworn statement of all campaign ex penses from each and every candidate. See