WOMEN STUDY HOW TO VOTE Ossoli Circle Hears Address
This Afternoon by Judge
R. P. Williams
PROPHETIC TOPIC
Municipal and State Government and Suggested Improvements Discussed
Ossoli Circle devoted its session
Monday afternoon to the timely con-
ideration of "Our Local Government"" Mrs, L. Crozier French, chairman of the political science department which arranged the program,
termed the selection of this subject,
"almost prophetic" since the topic
was chosen several months ago and
is now so appropriate in view of the
recent enfranchisement of women
of Tennessee in municipal and presidential elections.
"The County System of Tennessee," was discussed by Mrs. Lewis
Tillman with special reference to
the administration of the county government.
Miss Leah Fletcher led the general discussion on "Suggested Improvements." Needed changes in county
government were subjects of brief
talks by various members of the circle.
Recorder Williams' Address
Recorder Williams in his address
on "Machinery of Voting" ' said in
part:
"Madame chairman and ladies: I
know of no higher honor that could
I be conferred upon a man than to ad-
dress this organization. It being the
oldest in the city and composed of
women who believe in doing things.
I am not a new convert to woman
suffrage. I have believed in it many
years and declared for it in a school
address at Fountain City High
school. Why? Because I believe in
women. If you will pardon me I will
prove to you that the women of this
country and the world have always
been faithful to every trust. Let us
go back to when our Savior was i
crucified. What does the Bible teach
us. That all of the men deserted and a woman followed him to the cross.
Who was it first met Him when He
arose from the grave? It was a woman.
Who was it that has been the
stand by of the church and schools
of this country and watched after
the interest of the children while the
men were chasing the rainbow of
fame or the almighty dollar? It was
the women. Who was the (missing)
of the greatest organization (missing)
world outside of the Church. (missing).
duties. The last legislature made it
a misdeameanor or fine for a person appointed to hold an election
not to serve without good cause.
"They appoint an officer of election, three judges, two clerks, two
registrars and one marker. The polls
in the cities open at 9 o'clock and
close at 7 p. m., in the county district at 9 o'clock and close at 4 p. m.
How To Vote
"Ladies, you no doubt would be surprised when I tell you that in every
ward in the city of Knoxville at each
election there are ballots not counted
simply because the man who cast the
I ballot did not know how to mark his
ticket. The law requires he shall place
an X or cross mark opposite the name he
desires to vote for and instead of doing
that he scratched out the name of the
man he did not want to vote for. The
law further requires you must pay your
poll tax thirty days before, the election. This tax for elections held in 1919 would
be the poll tax for the year 1918. There
ihas been a question raised that the la-
dies will not have to pay poll taxes to
vote in 1919 as they were not assessed.
This is a question of law that should De
looked into, in fact it is such an im-
portant question in my opinion a test
case should be brought and tested in
supreme court before our next city elec-
tion. I know able attorneys have stated
you are not liable for the poll tax because you were not assessed. There are
hundreds of voters in the city of Knoxville who are not assesed by the tax
assessor on January 10, as the law requires, their names are not on the tax
books, but they desire to vote and they
go to the trustee's office more than a
year after the assessment is made and
pay their two dollars. This is placed on
the pick-up list as the name of Mrs.
George Templeton was placed a few
days ago. On election day you will get
registration certificates and your poll
tax receipt and go to the polls. You
will first go to one of the registrars and
present your credentials. He will give
you your ballot. Then you will hand
your registration certificate and your
ballot to what is known as the marker.
He will take both and place the same
number, say 22, on both certificate and,
ballot. This is done to keep any ballots
being voted from the outside or marked
by some one else than the voter. After
I this you will then go in the booth and
make a cross mark after the names of
each person you desire to vote for. Then
you will go to the officer of election, give
him your ballot, registration certificate
and poll tax receipt. He will call out
your name and it will be checked on the
registration book by the registrars and
officer will say voted and place your
ballot in the box.
"At 7 o'clock the officer of election
will announce the polls are closed and
no one is allowed to vote after that
hour. The officer then opens the ballot
box and from the ballots he calls each
name that has a cross mark opposite
the name. The two clerks on the talley
sheet record the votes, making a
straight mark for each vote including
No. 4 and the fifth vote received by a
candidate the clerk makes a slanting
mark across the four and says talley:
each clerk must have the same record
and this is kept up until all of the votes
are counted and the officer, judges and
clerks sign the returns from their respective precincts and took by them to the
county election commission who meet at
the courthouse in each county and can-
vass the returns and make their reports on the results. If city officers are
to be elected, they report to tne city
commission, state officers to the state
election commission and secretary of
state. The judge's duty is to watch the
ballots and to pass upon all disputes, If
a man has made false statement or has
moved and his vote has been challenged
by some voter or citizen, then it is the
duty of the judge to pass upon the question if he is a legal voter.
Must Pay Poll Tax
"All persons twenty-one years of age
on January 10, the year preceding tne
e.iection, up to fifty [years] of age, must
pay poll tax. To (missing)
tion in September (missing)
