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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour gtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film^ A partir de Tangle sup^rieur gauche, de gauche h droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombrb d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mSthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 / n II I f * »llll H tl >M>«WMi<* NATIONAL UBHARY -:C A M A |>A . J - C0nstxnxtiou < I iWi n iii IPM4 -"*^^ OF THK VolanteeF Eleetoral Iieagae. Eleetiop prauds. flow CflU THEV BE PREVENTED? ■•%- .:.- ^■r May, 189 2 /»--' i- 21> CONSTITUTION OF THE "^oliintar (Siectoral J^ape OK rvlONTREAIv 1. Name. This organization shall be known as the Volunteer Electoral League, of Montreal, 2. Its objects shall be : — a. To revise and perfect the voters' lists. b. To encourage the nomination of candidates of known integrity for public office. c. To use all legitimate means to secure their return. d. To prevent fraudulent and dishonest practices in elections. e. To follow up and prosecute, to the full extent of the law, those detected in any violation of the Elec- tion Act. f. To suggest and promote any legislation, approved by the Lt ague, having for its object the purity of elections. 3. Membership. Members shall keep secret the work of the League, except as authorized by a majority of the Society. Election to membership shall be only on the written recommen- dation of five members and by a secret ballot, at which a two- thi.ds majority of those present shall be necessary to elect ; and any member proving objectionable can be ballotted out by a two-thirds majority, while any member having h st interest in the objects of lb'" Association is expected to resi[;n. b. Members shall sign ihe Constitution upi)n their election. c. The annual fee for membership shall be two dollars. 4. Meetings. The annual meeting for the reception of reports and election of office-bearers shall take [)lace on the second Tuesday of May in each year. b. Ordinary meetings shall be held once a month when there is business to be transacted, or oltener if deemed necessary, at which meetings the reports of the several committees hereafter mentioned, shall be presented and considered. c. Seven members shall form a quoium. 5. The officers shall be as follows :— President, 1st and 2nd Vice-Presidents, Corresponding Secretary, Recording Secretary, Treasurer and Whip. 6. The committees shall be as follows :— a. Revision ; b. Investigation ; c. Caucus and Interview- ing ; d. Election ; e, Lee:al ; /. Press. A. The duty of the Revising Committee shall be to check over electoral lists ; to have such names entered thereon as are entitled ; such names corrected as are erroneously inscribed, and such names struck off as it is evident do not belong on the voters' list. In fact, it shall endeavor by correcting the lists, to diminish, as far as possible, the opportunity for |>ersonating, or other illegal practices, ^ , B. The duty of the Investigatio7t Cofnmittee shall be to keep record of and make careful enquiry into the personal character and attainments of elected members of public bodies and probable candidates for office, and report the result of their investigation to the League. After it has been decided by a majority vote, in full meet- ing, that this League shall be willing to support any one or more of the candidates mentioned, it shall be the duty of the Vf C. Cauius and Intervie^vino Committee to gain access where possible to caucuses and to use its influence to persuade such bodies lo ofler iheir nomination only to clean men. After a candidate has been nominated by caucus, or allowed himself to be put forward by the requisite number of electors, it shnll be the further duty of this committee to offer the more worthy candidate the support of this organization, a'^reeing to undertake the management of a specified number of poMing districts, provided that the candidate agree, upon his part, that no corrupt acts shall be countenanced, and also to obtain from the candidate a written promise i^at the League shall have the naming of at least one scrutineer in every polling district they canva«, and that he (the candidate) will bear the expense of at least one prosecution, if transgressions of the Election Act ave detected. After a c^^rtain number of polls have been entrusted to the League the E. Election Committee will see to it that every elector possible in these districts be canvassed, his support solicited and a full description of him obtained for the use of the scrutineers ; the Committee shill also provide on election day that every pos- sible voter favorable to its candidate be brought to the polls, and in this work shall be assisted by the entire membership of the LeaL^ue. As this League is pledged to secure the arrest of persons guilty of corrupt practices there shall be a F. Lea^al Committee to follow up detected attempts at bribery, personation and subornation, and to secure the con- viction and punishment of the same to the fullest extent au- thorized under the Electoral Acts in operation in this Province. It shall be the duty of the G. Press Committee to agitate through all the public prints for good nominations and pure methods ; to expose dis- honesty and corruption wherever found ; to advise the public of the attitude of candidates towards this League and its methods; and give the public fron time to time such information as may 'Z7ir"J'°'''T ^'■'P ^'"'-^ "f 'his Organization, an.l awaken public opinion to right action. rhJ' ^ '^"Ji"! composed of the Officers of the League an.l ono r^/r/ 1 "'r' "'^"''°"'^' Committees shall constitute one Lefirra/ tLxectittve. I. All services rendered by this Organization, whether as a body or through individuals, shall be purely vo untary any donation from friends of the cause will be used to & the necessary runnmg expenses of the Association. ^ dis Jreealfo^t^hr'''' "Y\ ^'^ ^'''^^'^ ''' "^"'^P^^^ ^"y candidate Fv'Z?- '"i' ^''"'^ ^^ anytime, by special consent of the service'' ' '^"'^^''' ""'^^ ^'' ^^^'^P^^^^^ ^^«- --y P'-^^ticular III. In general, this Organization shall not enter the field where both candidates are, in the opinion of the Lea'ue S men, or wliere both are objectionable-reserving its 'T e'^PthT n^minef ' " '"^'"^ '^ ^^^^^ '''''' ^^^^-'^ a'good and'aW IV.^ The above Constitution may be amended or altered at any time by a two-thirds vote of the members presen a tanv regular mec tmg, notice of motion having been m^en a a ore vious meeting. ^ ^ ^ ^ P"^^" y. Special meetings may be called by the President at any time at the request of four other members. June Lst, 1892. ELECTION FRAUDS. HOW CAN THEY BE PREVENTED? % Few of those outside the circle of active politics realize to what an extent the crime of personation is practised in city elections. It is no exaggeration to say that in certain Wards fully 15 per cent of the entire vote is *' telegraphed." Elections are on record — notably the McShane-Keys and the James-Kennedy- Anderson, where there is ample ground for the belief that it was this fraudulent vote that carried the day. This evil is undoubt- edly on the increase, and what is worse, many of our young men, honourable enough in other ways, do not con-ider an election perjury as anything but a shrewd, and if successful, a commendable proceeding. It is no common thing after election day to hear men boasting of having voted five or six times under different names, although in the eyes of the law liable to a fine of $500 for each offence. (See Article 419, Quebec Elections Act.) But the thoughtful and honest taxpayer, with a stake in the community, who may have put himself to no little inconvenience to record his one legitimate vote, hardly appreciates having it nullified five times over by some perjured individual whose interests in the country are next to nothing. 6 Unfortunately, both sides in an election are usually more or less guilty of such practices, and the greater advantage natur- ally accrues to the more unscrupulous and unworthy candidate. Scrutineers there are at each poll, supposed to know everybody, but often with instructions to let the ** telegraphers " of their own party go unchallenged if they give the right countersign. With no conscientious scruple in the matter, it is not to be won- dered at that both scrutineers are often purchased by the same candidate, and then the poll is at the mercy of the false voter. The Curran-Guerin election affords striking examples of this. An instance is reported in the James-Kennedy- Anderson contest where both scrutineers and the returning officer were bought over for the same side, and in that poll a certain man voted seven times on viifferent names without once leaving the booth. To facts such as these is largely due the controlling power that the worse element of our population is gaining over the better, and from the election of corrupt men by corrupt means what else can be expected than corruption in our civic councils and '* boodling " in our legislatures ? If ever there was a time for honest citizens to stop and ask themselves ** whither are we hastening? " that time seems to be now. An interesting experiment, with a view to discovering a means to check this growing evil, was tried during the Pro- vincial elections just past. V A few earnest young men, not hitherto known in political contests, offered iheir services as canvassers and scrutineers to one of the candidates, on coudiiion thaty in the pulls of which ihey took charge, no *' telegraphing " should he attempted by the party organization with which they worked. Their offer was readily accepted, and the canvas at once vigorously com- menced. Not only were the electors interviewed, and strongly urged to support their candidate, but these canvassers took accurate descriptions of each elector on identification cards, as follows : — NAME Registered Residence , (// Removed) Qualification Occupation Height Build Complexion . . . Whiskers Color of Eyes , Age Peculiarities.. Sentiments Where to be called for. When 8 1 he work was done principally at night, as the canvassers wete biiby men, whose time was limited during business hours. Before election day several hundred voters were described, and the whereabouts ot each known to the scrutmeers at their polls. As the candidate had placed his interests in their hands, these young men procured private sleighs and saw to it that Cv^ery favorable voter possible was brought to the polls. The result was very satisfactory. Only one *' telegrapher " succeeded in passing ihe scrutineers, although no less than six attempts uere made. As it becanie noised abroad among the workers that it was of no use to try personation at these polls, the attempts naturally ceased ; thus it is impossible to estimate how many were actually prevented, but it is safe to say the number was not small, since not less than 35 votes were "telegraphed" at these same polls during the election just previous. There is now a movement on foot among the originators of this scheme to form an ELcioral Purity Association^ composed of young men who can be depended upon to do hard work in elections, for no other remuneration than the success of a good cause. Should this organization become sufficiently strong, it would endeavor to take under its control an entire Ward or a range of notoriously bad polls, working only in the interests of a candidate whose reputation was stainless. It would endeavor also to secure the enforcement of the law regarding personation, and would further prosecute (under Article 418 of the Electoral Act) ihe crime of Subornation — that is, of inducing another to take a false oath — thus striking at the root of the matter. Article 418 of the Election Act provides that " every person who induces anyone to take a false oath shall be liable to a fine of ^200, or to an imprisonment of six months in default of payment. " ~ Article 419. '* Whosoever applies for a ballot paper in the name of some other person shall be deemed guilty of personation, and shall be punished by a penalty of five hundred dollars, or imprisonment for six months on default of payment." !| Su ihn £eacjue at it^ fl^^t QtimuaC meetivtcj 14^ mai^, 1892. For further information, apply to Look: Box T6, M:ontre:al. V...V .:,. ^A L.. Ji