CLERAC’S ELECTRIC VOTE RECORDER.

Globe, Volume XXI, Issue 1685, 15 July 1879, Page 3

CLERAC’S ELECTRIC VOTE RECORDER.

This ingenious mode of voting, which obviates the present clumsy methods of division, is now in use in the French Assembly, By it the vote of every member is recorded on paper as it is made, a result which is effected by means of what is known as electro-chemical telegraphy. The vote recorder consists of a printing tablet, on which are set small metal blocks of type, each block bearing the name or number of the member. There are two of these blocks to each member, one for his “ Aye” and the other for his “No,” as the case may be. The “Aye” block is of iron, the “No” one is of copper. Covered wires connect these two blocks to a small voltaic battery in the desk ot the member, and the latter can at will send an electric current from this battery to one or other of the blocks. A sheet of bibulous paper, moistened with a solution of forrooyanide of potassium, is laid over the printing tablet, and the lid, which is simply a zinc plate, is folded over the paper. The voting then begins. If a member wishes to vote “ Aye,” he presses a button on his desk, which sends a current from his battery to the iron type block bearing his name. The current passes from the block, through the paper, to the zinc cover, and back to the battery, but in passing through the paper it causes the iron type to print the member’s name in blue characters. Similarly, if he votes “No,” be sends his current to the brass typo, and a rod impression of his name is the result. In this way, without having to leave his seat, each member in the House gives his vote, and the voting can be readily analysed by the scrutators who examine the printed record.