PRIMARY, PRESIDENTIAL PREFERENCE; CORRUPT PRACTICES 'ACTS; MINORITY AND PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.
Voters.— The word voter is commonly used in the senses: (1) A person who casts a bal lot at an election ; an elector who actually votes ; (2) a qualified voter ; a person possessing the necessary qualifications entitling him to vote. "The possession of pohtical rights is not es sential to citizenship . . .; women and minors may be citizens; 'citizen' is not synonymous with 'elector' or (voter) although the word i; sometimes so used in statutes, constitution; and city charters.° ((Corpus Juris,' Vol. XI, pp. 774-75, article "Citizens°). A person may be a citizen and not an elector and an elector may not be a voter. One court has ruled . "There is a difference between an elector, or person legally qualified to vote, and a voter. In common parlance they may be used indis criminately, but strictly spealnng they are not the same. The voter is the elector who votes the elector in the exercise of his franchise or pnvilege of voting— and not he who does not vote.° The °vote of the people° means only those people who are qualified electors Classification of Voters.—Many terms have been applied to voters or to certain elements of the population who often vote in racial or social groups. Supposedly the voters of these groups influence party action or are an asset to a par ticular political party. Thus we have the "Irish vote? the "German vote,° the "negro vote? the "labor vote? the Catholic and Mor mon votes, the "venal vote° (the vote that can be bought in the "open market”, the rural and city votes (the struggle between which has sometimes resulted in distinct breaks with old party organizations such as the Grangers and the Populist party, q.v.), the "popular° vote, the "independent* vote, etc.
The Independent Vote.— This term is used to distinguish the vote cast for other than the "regular° or partisan candidate. Under the popular conception of °regularity° all the mem bers of a party must vote the straight party ticket at all times and everywhere irrespective of conditions or candidates. independent movements seldom capture the “straight-out° party man who makes "regularity° the chief article of his political creed. Sometimes the independent vote results in disciplining the party, since it carries with it a warning to party managers that public opinion has ceased to favor the policies advocated or the candi dates presented by them. Often the independent vote purges the party of its vicious elements by inflicting defeat at the polls and thus dis crediting the party leaders (which is especially noticeable in municipal elections), and its con scientious attitude always tends to preserve party purity. Politicians have recognized its influence and generally seek to gain its ad herence, as in Iowa, where the Republican platform for many years contained a so-called "bad-man plank? under which members of the Republican party pledged themselves to vote against any unworthy candidate nominated by any party. This independence of a portion of a party constituency has sometimes played havoc with the °regular" party and has often resulted in the formation of independent par ties, usually known as third parties. Since the
firm establishment of the Democratic and Re publican parties, more than 20 of these minor parties have been organized, but most of them have disappeared after conducting one cam paign, their members being reabsorbed into the regular parties or passing from public notice. Only one (the Prohibition party, q.v.) has re mained continuously active since 1872, with organizations in nearly every State. The for mation of this party and also of the Socialist, Granger, Farmers' Alliance, Populist, Green back and other parties (qq.v.) was not due entirely to independent movements within cer tain political organizations but resulted pri marily from advocacy of economic principles or reform theories, the adherents of these policies later endeavoring to obtain more wide spread recognition for their doctrines by enter ing the political field, thus making them par tisan issues. While only one of these parties has ever been represented in the electoral col lege (the Populist in 1892), still they have exerted a great influen'ce not only politically through policies subsequently appropriated by one of the °regular" parties which could secure their adoption by legislative bodies but (as in the case of Prohibitionists) also in the daily lives of the people through legislation passed either at their instigation or under their pres sure. The labor vote also has influenced the passage, by old-line parties, of remedial legis lation which has benefited all classes, but some of which undoubtedly has been enacted purely as a °catch-penny" scheme. As examples of wholly independent movements or what might be termed °parties of protest" may be men tioned the Radical Republicans of 1864 who nominated Fremont; the °Straight-out)" Demo crats of 1872; the °Gold Democrats"; the °Sil ver Republicans)); the °Independent Party)) of 1908; the fusion movements in New York City against Tammany Hall. and the Progressive party, the last named being formed in 1912 as a protest against the °steam-roller" methods of the Republican National Committee (which rep resented the regular or °stand-pat" element of the party) in deciding contests over delega tions pledged to Taft and Roosevelt. Reform movements seldom succeed themselves and the winning and holding of a city or State on the bare proposition that one organization is better than another rarely occurs; in order to hold their positions against experienced machine politicians an equally efficient organization must be created by the independents who differ radically among themselves as to methods, whereas the machine especially emphasizes orthodoxy and places a ban on the liberty of dissent. On the other hand the independent vote has compelled the adoption of many measures that are not purely party matters, the progressive elements in both or all parties overstepping party lines and by union forcing the party bosses to accept their dictum. As instances of such movements may be cited the initiative, referendum and the recall, civil serv ice reform, woman suffrage, direct election of senators, direct primaries, child labor and liquor legislation, etc. (qq,y.). See also