ELECTORAL REFORM

Measures for safeguarding the honest conduct of elections not only control the machinery of voting contests but embrace legislative innovations that affect the functions of government itself. The past history of American elections is honeycombed with recitals of illegal voting, bribery and intimidation, the political subsidizing of ‘repeaters’ and ‘floaters’, false counting by ballot-box stuffing or by tampering with. mutilating or cancelling ballot papers, and frequently by violence, riots and drunkenne . The absence generally of these evils at the present day indicates the effectivene of the electoral reforms already established. By the pa age of corrupt practices laws the states warred on the swelling of campaign funds by contributions from sordid influences seeking sordid ends ity of campaign funds provided a searchlight on individual contributions and exposed receipts and expenditures that were other than legitimate. Intimidation was stopped by the secret ballot. Padded and rifled ballot boxes and falsified counting came under the vigilance f election boards and is rarely known today. Personation and other devices of illegal voting have been curbed by preliminary registration. Congre has also checked the unscrupulous expansion of campaign funds for national elections by forbidding corporations to subscribe to funds used in electing the President and members of Congre on pain of fine, and by requiring, like the States, full publicity of election moneys, received and spent. Federal laws likewise restrain political contributions from being solicited in government buildings and forbid government employees from receiving or collecting such moneys. See C1viL SerRvicp REFORM. In recent years a striking feature of electoral reform has been the broadening of facilities of the exercise of popular hth oath by the institution of the nitiative, Referendum and the Recall (qq. v.) in a number of states and municipalities. The Initiative is a device for overriding indifferent state legislatures by allowing a direct vote of the people - to pa certain desired legislation into law. The Referendum is the submi ion to the electorate for its approval of roposed measures, such as an i ue of onds, before a legislature pa es upon them. The Recall enables the voters to decide whether an elective officer’s continuance of his office is desirable or not, and to recall him if a majority of the votes cast is against the implicated official. Mayors have been recalled by popular vote. On the other hand, a Recall vote may turn out to be in favor of the official under fire, in which case ced retains his post with a public exoneration. The foregoing measures, in addition to the growing favor shown for the short ballot, the establishment of direct primaries, the presidential preference primary, direct election of U. S. Senators, and woman suffrage, are landmarks that show the trend of a reform in election methods aiming at an effective and untrammeled expre ion of the popular will and the curtailment of government by political cliques. See Batuot RezFORM.