Ballot

by Sydney Smith

Excerpt from Ballot
It is possible, and perhaps not very difficult, to invent a machine, by the aid of which electors may vote for a candidate, or for two or three candidates, out of a greater number, without its being discovered for whom they vote; it is less easy than the rabid, and foaming Radical supposes; but I have no doubt it may be accomplished. In Mr. Grote's dagger ballot box, which has been carried round the country by eminent patriots, you stab the card of your favourite candidate with a dagger. I have seen another, called the mouse-trap ballot box, in which you poke your finger into the trap of the member you prefer, and are caught and detained till the trap-clerk below (who knows by means of a wire when you are caught) marks your vote, pulls the liberator, and releases you.

Unknown Binding

First published July 13, 2015

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Sydney Smith was an English writer and Anglican cleric. He was the father of Saba, Lady Holland (née Smith) (1802–1866) the 2nd wife of Sir Henry Holland,