Your vote and how to use it

by Gertrude Foster Brown

How Candidates for Office in New York State Are Nominated: The direct primary is the method now used in New York State by which candidates for all offices except those in towns and villages are nominated, and the conduct of these “official primaries,” as they are called to distinguish them from the unofficial primaries of the party, is carefully prescribed by State law. A primary election is held thirty days before the general election, and is conducted on the same plan and in the same general way as the election. Candidates of each party for all the elected offices are nominated by the enrolled party members. At the same time leaders for the district of each political party are elected. The ballots for each party are printed by the State and differ in color. The candidates whose names are printed on the primary ballot are designated by party committees, and other persons may have their names added by petition.

Who May Vote at the Official Primaries—Enrolment of Voters: Only those who have enrolled themselves as members of the party are permitted to vote at the official primaries. At the time of the registration of voters in the cities, or at the last general election in the country, voters are given a party enrolment blank to fill out. These enrolments are placed in sealed envelopes and opened a week after the regular election, when enrolment lists of each party are made out. Such enrolment is not compulsory, but unless a voter enrolls he is not able to take part in the nomination of candidates. By enrolling he does not pledge himself to vote the party ticket at the election (except in the case of the Socialist party); but he is allowed to vote at the primary for candidates of the party in which he enrolls.

Objections to Direct Primaries are made that few voters take the trouble to vote at them, and that the choice of candidates is very limited and is still controlled by party leaders. They are also very expensive for a candidate, especially if he is not backed by these leaders. To stand any chance of nomination a candidate has to canvass the voters and make himself known to them. A poor man cannot afford to enter a contest in a direct primary unless funds are supplied him or unless he expects to recoup himself later at the public expense. Also, as that candidate wins the primary election who receives the largest number of votes, the successful candidate may be one who has had the votes of only a small proportion of the party which is expected to support him later at the polls.

So far in New York State the primaries, even in city elections, are largely party affairs. The suggestion has been advanced that city primaries should be strictly non-partisan, and that party emblems should be eliminated from the primary ballots.

Nomination by a Convention is a method still used in some States, and until it was superseded by the direct primary it used to be the manner of nominating candidates in New York. An official party convention is made up of delegates elected by members of the party from the different parts of the State. Names of possible candidates are presented to the members in open convention, who express their choice by ballot.

Objections to the Convention System are based on the fact that the regular party convention is usually controlled by a few leaders who decide beforehand every detail of the business of the convention and make up the slate. They may trade with another group and concede part of the ticket to them in return for certain concessions which they may obtain for themselves. The delegates are often there simply to follow orders and to nominate the men agreed upon by the party bosses.

The “slate” is the list of candidates for the various offices to be filled. Nominations for these positions are usually influenced not so much by the qualifications of the men proposed for office, as by the ability of the proposed candidates to get out the vote and to add strength to the ticket, also by geographical considerations, that each part of the State or district may be represented on the ticket.

Unofficial State conventions are still held by the leading parties in New York. Their principal business is to frame a platform. This convention also appoints the central committee.

The Primary Is Important to Every Voter because it is there that policies are determined and party leaders elected, as well as candidates nominated for offices. Unless the members of the party take the trouble to vote at the primary, the choice of candidates is left to the few leaders who make a business of politics. This leaves the field clear for “the boss” to put up candidates whom he can control after election.

The vote at the primary election is always small. The proportion of voters who vote for the nomination of candidates is often as low as 18 or 20 per cent. of the vote cast at the election. The reason for this is not difficult to understand. The primary election comes at a time when little public interest has yet been aroused in the coming election. By election-time the voters have been circularized and canvassed and the newspapers have devoted much space to the subject. Also much more effort is made by the party to get out the vote at election-time than at the primary. Party leaders can count on the faithful coming to the primary election without urging, and they are the ones who often choose the candidates.