That the boards of elections ought to be so constituted that minorities as well as majorities will have a fair representation in them, is so plainly just that in some parts of the State, even in times of the highest political excitement, such representation has been obtained, in the absence of law, by arrangement between the committees of the rival political parties. It is not probable that any mode of selecting judges and clerks of elections can be adopted which will, in every case, accomplish this object. But in all cases where the strength of the minority is half, or nearly half as great as that of the majority, the desired representation of the minority may be insured with sufficient certainty by several different plans. For example, it may be provided that at the election of the three judges who are to decide all questions at the polls, each elector may be allowed to vote for two candidates only, and that the three candidates having the highest number of votes shall be declared elected, and in like manner that, at the election of the two clerks of elections, each elector may vote for one candidate only, and that the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes shall be declared elected.
I do not lay much stress on the particular plan here suggested, but your attention is invited to the importance of a fair representation of the minority in all boards of elections, not doubting that your wisdom will be able to devise a suitable measure to accomplish it.
All parts of the State of Ohio are now so closely connected with each other, and with other States, by lines of railway, that great and constantly increasing facilities are afforded for the perpetration of the class of frauds on the elective franchise, commonly known as "colonizing." In the cities, men called "repeaters," it is said, are paid wages according to the number of unlawful votes they succeed in casting at the same election.
The increase of population adds to the difficulty of detecting and preventing fraudulent voting, in whatever mode it may be practiced. It is manifestly impossible, amid the hurry and excitement of an election, that the legal right to vote, of every person who may offer his ballot, should be fully and fairly investigated and decided. The experience of many of the older States has proved that this can best be done at some period prior to the election, so as to give to every legal voter, in an election precinct, an opportunity to challenge the claim of any person whose right is deemed questionable. Laws to accomplish this have been in force in several other States for many years, and have been carried out successfully and with the general approval of the people. Believing that an act providing for the registration of all legal voters is the most effective remedy yet devised for the prevention of frauds on the sacred right of suffrage, and that a registry law can be so framed that it will deprive no citizen, either native born or naturalized, of his just rights, I respectfully recommend to your earnest consideration the propriety of enacting such a law.
The comprehensive geological survey of the State recommended in this message was promptly brought about through the able co-operation of the Hon. Alfred E. Lee, representing Delaware county in the House of Representatives, who drew up and reported a bill on February 9, 1869, making provision for the important object in view. Through the intelligent activity of Governor Hayes and Representative Lee, the bill became a law, April 2, 1869. The thorough scientific survey of the State, since completed under the supervision of Professors Newbury, Andrews, and Orton, has been of immeasurable value in the way of developing the mineral resources of Ohio.
Governor Hayes in this message demands laws to secure honest elections, because "to corrupt the ballot-box is to destroy our free institutions." He recommends laws securing the representation of minorities on election boards, and advocates stringent registry laws.
In the second annual message, delivered at the close of his first term, which we give below, he recommends increased powers to the State board of charities; better provision for the chronic insane; the establishment of a State agricultural college; the founding of a home for soldiers' orphans, and restoring the right of suffrage to soldiers in the national asylum, to college students, and others who had been disfranchised under Democratic legislation. He urged also the ratification by Ohio of the Fifteenth Amendment. We shall speak of the gratifying result of these recommendations in our next chapter.
Fellow-Citizens of the General Assembly:
In obedience to the constitution, I proceed to lay before you the condition of the affairs of the State government, and to recommend such measures as seem to me expedient.
The balance in the State treasury on the 15th of November, 1868 was $570,120.75; the receipts during the last fiscal year were $4,781,614.49; making the total amount of available funds in the treasury during the year ending November 15, 1869, $5,351,735.24.