tatute but the ballot had certain
modifications to suit the needs of party orthodoxy. Here the columns
represented parties, not offices. Each party had a column. Each column
was headed by the party name and its device, so that those who could not
read could vote for the Rooster or the Eagle or the Fountain. There was
a circle placed under the device, and by making his mark in this circle
the voter voted straight.

Within eight years thirty-eight States and two Territories had adopted
the Australian or blanket ballot in some modified form. It was but a
step to the state control of the election machinery. Some state officer,
usually the Secretary of State, was designated to see that the election
laws were enforced. In New York a State Commissioner of Elections was
appointed. The appointment of local inspectors and judges remained for
a time in the hands of the parties. But soon in several States even this
power was taken from them, and the trend now is towards appointing all
election officers by the central authority. These officers also have
complete charge of the registration of voters. In some States, like New
York, registration has become a rather solemn procedure, requiring the
answering of many questions and the signing of the voter's name, all
under the threat of perjury if a wilful misrepresentation is made.

So passed out of the control of the party the preparation of the ballot
and the use of the ballot on election day. Innumerable rules have been
laid down by the State for the conduct of elections. The distribution
of the ballots, their custody before election, the order of electional
procedure, the counting of the ballots, the making of returns, the
custody of the ballot-boxes, and all other necessary details, are
regulated by law under official state supervision. The parties are
allowed watchers at the polls, but these have no official standing.

If a Revolutionary Father could visit his old haunts on election day, he
would be astonished at the sober decorum. In his time elections lasted
three days, days filled with harangue, with drinking, betting, raillery,
and occasional encounters. Even those whose memory goes back to the
Civil War can contrast the ballot peddling, the soliciting, the crowded
noisy polling-places, with the calm and quiet with which men deposit
their ballots today. For now every ballot is numbered and no one is
permitted to take a single copy from the room. Every voter must prepare
his b