Atlanta Daily World

Vote Machines Not Available For Instruction

BY GEORGE COLEMAN

Negro voters will not have an opportunity to get acquainted with local voting machines before the November 4 election as previously announced by the League of Women Voters, but diagrams will be placed at convenient sites to aide in understanding the huge and complicated ballot.

The shortage of available machines was blamed Monday on a large and bulging ballot which had caused officials no end of headaches in their attempt to have them ready by election time.

The chairman of the league, Mrs. Walter Paschal, said Monday that she had requested two voting machines for Negroes to practice upon, but officials had been unable to meet this request because of mechanical difficulties.

Mrs. A. A. McPheeters, head of the West Hunter Street Library branch, said that numerous people had come to the library to practice after reading in newspapers that one would be installed, and were "greatly disappointed" when they unable to locate one.

Meanwhile, Guy Eaves, Chief Inspector of the Fulton County Inspection Department, declared that this department was having difficulty even getting the machines ready for the election day. Only one voting machine has been released, he said, and that one of the main Public Library on Carnegie Way. Orders for others were withheld after complications developed, he added.

Mrs Paschal said that after it was learned machines would not be available, posters were printed, with a diagram of the ballot on the face. One has been placed in the West Hunter Street Library, she said.

Eaves said headaches first appeared recently when the face of the voting machines were five weeks late in arriving. Because of the size of the ballots, which will be spread completely across the face of the ballot,

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additional levers and other parts had to be prepared.

The inspector said organizations other than the League of Women Voters had requested voting machines be placed at public places. The League had requested one for each of the Negro branch public libraries.

But when the machine faces were late in arriving, and new complications developed, all requests were turned down, Eaves related, and officials were left wondering if they would be able to meet the deadline.

The inspector. commenting on the complications of the ballot. said there were 46 amendments to vote for and 40 tickets. The public would probably have trouble locating a particular amendment to vote for. and most of them would not be acquainted with each amendment. Newspapers could help with the problem, he said, by explaining what each of. the amendments was for. Eaves affirmed.

The officials mused that Georgia law permitted a voter only three minutes to cast a ballot. Under this system about 250 people used a machine during voting hours. he said. but with the huge ballot there were doubts if 50 percent of the voters will have had a chance by 7 p. m. when the polls are slated to close

Fulton County has authorized six men to work on the machines. and they have 549 of the automatic ballot boxes to prepare before election time. Eaves declared it takes about four and one half hours to prepare one machine for election, and even with the men working over time they will have a difficult time meeting the election deadline

The inspector declared he was willing to cooperate with groups who wanted to instruct people in how to use the ballot machines, but said he felt it was more important to have them ready by election time

He added he felt that "the time to educate people is between elections and not right at one."