Counting Votes By Machinery

A laiv haviing been pas&ed at tlie last scssi-fM oí the New York legisi Lature permitting ilir use oí the ballot counting machines in pegfcrterlng an'd recoirding tJie resulta oí eleetions iu that state, the use oí such machines s likely to become general suou. The board of supervisors of Niágara county has just ailopied the machine for use in all the Jxreclncta of the eounty, i,nd the Xcw York papers are advocating lts adoption in that city. The voti'ng is done by pressing knobs. These knobs are arranged in columns and ,tlie different parties are Tepreseaited by. different colors. By tJie side of each krniob is a camlidates name. By .piressimg tlie knob ncar -the candidate's name a vote for that candidate is registered, and at the same time all the knobs represeavting the other candidates for the sanie office are autoraatically locked, thus preventing the voter from indorsing more than one pei-son for eaeh office. TV'hen the voter has fimished votingthe machine is locked. When he leaves .the booth by a different door from the one at wliich he i'jitered the machine is unlocked and made ready for the next voter. Wlien the polls are closed the rear wall of the booth is nnlocked, and there in clea.r view of all the persons assem bied is ithe f uil and accurate count of the votes cast for each candidate in that precinctIt is claimed that voting can be done mueh. more rapddly in tlüs way than with ballots. The average, time requia-ed by tJie votei-s is said to be leay tban one minute, and it is estimated that 650' of these machines would record the entire vote of Xew York city, wJiicli i.s now cast in 1,141 precincts. Xot omly -Vould the use of counting machimos save lots of time, but they ■would reault in a saving of expense as iveU, and be an absolute guarantee agamst errors, eltiier accidental or intentional. .=.