The "Office Column" Ballot has the names of the candidates for each office arranged in alphabetical order under the title of the office, and to vote such a ballot it is necessary for the voter to look through each column, pick out the candidate he favors, and mark a cross in a blank space opposite each name for which he votes. To do this requires not only considerable time, but a certain amount of intelligence and discrimination.
Office Column Ballot
Part of Massachusetts Ballot of November, 1908
Party Column Ballot
Part of Indiana Ballot of November, 1908
The "Party Column" Ballot arranges the candidates, not under the offices which they are seeking, but in parallel columns according to political parties, there being a column for each party. Opposite each candidate's name on the "party column" ballot is a blank space, and at the head of each column is a circle and usually a device or emblem to indicate the party. By making a mark in this circle the voter may cast a ballot for all the candidates of the party. This is called "straight" voting. He may if he wishes, however, vote a "split" ticket by putting a cross in the blank spaces opposite the names of candidates of his choice in the different columns. The chief objection that has been urged against this type of ballot is that by making it so easy to vote a "straight" ticket, it encourages strict party voting, whereas independent voting, especially in city elections, should be encouraged by every possible means.
The "office column" ballot, on the other hand, encourages independent voting by making it just as difficult to vote a "straight" ticket as a "split" one. In Massachusetts there has been a remarkable amount of independent voting, due partly to the form of ballot used. The "office column" type of ballot is now used for all elections in about one fourth of the states, and in a number of others for municipal elections.
Ballot Reform.—In recent years there has been considerable discussion of the subject of ballot reform, and not a little experimenting with different schemes. Political reformers generally demand the abolition of the "party column" form, or at least the abolition of the party circle, as a means of discouraging straight party voting, but the professional politicians insist upon its retention. Whatever may be the form ultimately adopted, one reform is desirable, namely, greater simplification, to the end that the electoral franchise may be exercised more intelligently and easily. In some of our states the number of elective offices has increased to such proportions, and the ballot to such size, that it has become a real burden to vote it.
A ballot used in Chicago in 1906 contained the names of over 330 candidates and was over two feet in length and nearly two feet in width. From this bewildering array of names the voter was compelled to pick out his choice for the following offices: state treasurer, state superintendent of public education, trustees of the University of Illinois, representative in Congress, state senator, representative in the state assembly, sheriff, county treasurer, county clerk, clerk of the circuit court, county superintendent of schools, judge of the county court, judge of the probate court, members of the board of assessors, judges of the municipal court for the two-year term (nine to be elected), members of the board of review, president of the board of county commissioners, county commissioners (ten to be elected on general ticket), trustees of the sanitary district of Chicago (three to be elected), clerk of the municipal court, chief justice of the municipal court, judges of the municipal court (nine to be elected), judges of the municipal court for the four-year term (nine to be elected). In Oregon in the election of 1912 the ballot contained the names of 177 candidates and 37 laws and amendments.