Page:A History of the Australian Ballot System in the United States.djvu/65

52 is prohibited. In Indiana, Maine, North Dakota, and Washington such names may be placed on the ballot by the use of pasters.

The instrument used for marking the ballot is generally a pencil, or pen and ink. In Nevada, Oklahoma, California, and Louisiana a stamp is used. The reasons for using the stamp are to have a uniform mark, and to avoid any peculiarities which might be resorted to in an attempt to identify the ballot. The uniform mark required to be made is the cross (X). In Louisiana the elector in voting for individual candidates obliterates the white square at the right of such candidate’s name. This is the Belgian plan and probably gives less opportunity for distinguishing marks than any other. While the scheme of striking out all names not voted for has a certain psychological value, yet, because of the additional marks, it gives greater opportunity for fraud and identification. The Wisconsin coupon ballot does away with all marks made by the voter upon the ballot.

If a voter accidentally or inadvertently spoils a ballot, he may upon returning it receive another. Most of the states limit the number he may successively receive to three, but Arizona places the number at five. The ballot so returned is required to be canceled and preserved, and returned with the unused ballots. The limit on the number of ballots an elector can possibly obtain is to prevent electors from exhausting the supply of ballots by a process of deliberate mutilation.

There are considerable differences of opinion as to whether or not illiterate voters should receive assistance in marking their ballots. Mr. Dutton, the father of the Australian ballot, disapproved of aiding