"The American Ballot" by Spencer Albright

To add to my small but growing library of historical voting materials, I present: "The American Ballot" (14MB PDF) by Spencer Albright (published by the American Council on Public Affairs in 1942).

Here is the compelling forward to the book, authored by O. Douglas Weeks of the University of Texas Department of Government, in its entirety:

The free election ballot is both the supreme symbol and the principal working tool of democratic government. It is the all-important material object which democracy has sought to substitute for the battle-axe or the hangman's noose both as an emblem and as a weapon in the settlement of civil disagreements. The struggle to effect and maintain the substitution has been a long and difficult one; and it has not yet ended. In a very real sense, it is an important phase of the present world conflict. Something has been gained, however, even in the countries where democracy has been tried and abandoned, for their rulers have retained the "ja" ballot as a useful device with which to create the appearance of popular approval of their authority. Thus the semblance, if not the essence, of democracy lingers in their midst.

In the remaining democracies, however, the so-called free ballot is only more or less free. Many obstacles to its use as an untrammeled medium in the expression of the voter's choice are to be found in our own country. Some are to be traced to the circumstances surrounding the procedure of casting the ballot-to machine politics, to the faults of our election laws, and to the defects of our election administration. Others require for their removal basic changes in the organization of state and local government. The long ballot, the excessive number of local areas in which elections are held, and the multiplicity of elections generally are examples in point. Complete ballot reform, therefore, must await the realization of more fundamental reforms.

Short of this, however, there are many possible improvements in the form of the ballot proper. Correction of defects on the face of the ballot has made extensive progress in the United States during the past half century. The use of the publicly printed ballot as a principal feature of the Australian ballot system, almost universally adopted between 1888 and 1900, was a fundamental gain. So in the twentieth century almost continuous amendment of the ballot laws has been the rule. Many of the changes have been for the better; but the development has been very uneven from state to state, with the result that variations in ballot forms all the way from the most indefensible to really model features may be found in present-day election law provisions.

The criteria of a good ballot form are hard to determine. Perhaps the most important consideration is that of making the ballot as easy as possible for the voter to mark, so as not to deter him from voting, and if he does vote, to reduce the possibility of his becoming confused and thus either invalidating his ballot or marking it in a manner not expressive of his true intent. Of course, it is possible to render his task too simple, which is the case, in many states where the party circle appearing on the ballot overemphasizes partisanship and discourages thoughtful and independent voting. The relative merits of the party-column and office-block types of general election ballots, both of which are widely used in the United States, have been frequently discussed by students of ballot forms. Equally important are the problems of the non-partisan ballot and the proper form of the primary ballot. Lastly, the voting machine as a fool-proof and labor-saving substitute for the paper ballot and the inevitable difficulties entailed in its marking and tabulation, is a most important topic for those who are interested in simplifying the task of voting. These and other matters must be carefully weighed on the basis of facts and experience if defensible standards are to be set up.

Dr. Albright in the present study has attacked primarily the problem of collecting and comparing in a comprehensive and careful fashion the facts in regard to the manifold ballot forms now in use in the United States both in the general and primary elections and in regard to the extent to which the voting machine has been adopted and the results attained in its use. A work of this kind has been needed for some time. In recent years the ballot has been considered in a number of books concerned with broader phases of politics and elections, but not for many years has so extensive a study of the ballot as this one appeared in print. Here are summarized the changes of the past quarter-century and particularly those of the last decade.

O. DOUGLAS WEEKS
Chairman,
Department of Government
The University of Texas