Page:A History of the Australian Ballot System in the United States.djvu/53

40 and places it inside the official envelope, and then tears out the coupon for sheriff from the ticket and puts it in with the Democratic sheet. The basic idea of this plan is the segregation of the names of the men voted for from those which are rejected. All coupons selected to be voted are placed inside of an official envelope, which is divided into pockets to receive the detached coupons. The rejected coupons are placed inside of another envelope called the “remainder envelop.” If the elector wishes to vote for names not on the ballot, he is given a sheet of white paper properly indorsed by the ballot clerks. This must be returned folded so that the indorsement can be seen. The official folder is placed in a pocket of the larger envelope and sealed by the inspectors. The “remainder envelope” is also sealed by the inspector with official seals furnished by the secretary of state. In counting the votes, detached coupons prevail over those of the same number attached to the party sheet.

The party-column type of the ballot is used in twenty-seven states; of these seven are eastern, five are north central, four are southern, and eleven are western states. Except in the South, the party-column form outnumbers the office-group type in every section of the United States, but its greatest relative strength is in the north central and eastern states.

In determining the order in which the party tickets shall appear on the ballot, the usual rule is to place the decision with the officer preparing the ballots, giving precedence to the parties polling the highest number of votes. Some states fix in the law the position of the largest two or three parties, but leave the minor parties to be placed according to the foregoing rule. Wisconsin requires the party columns to be placed