Crimson Presidential Straw Vote Opens This Morning For University Students

Today at 9 o'clock, the two-day balloting, in which practically the entire University is expected to participate, will open in the CRIMSON presidential primary vote. Regular polling places will be established in Sever, Harvard, Pierce, and Langdell Halls and will be in operation from 9 until 1 o'clock today and tomorrow.

A special ballot for those unable to attend the polls has been printed in today's CRIMSON and should be marked and mailed before mid-night tonight.

W. Y. Elliott, assistant professor in the Department of Government, interviewed last night, stated that he considered it of great value for students to take an active interest in present-day political affairs. He expressed the belief that this year the economic factor would influence the voters' choice of party but not of candidate and declared that issues were bound to be powerful elements in the selecting of the president for the next four years in contrast to 1928 when they were diverted and buried under a mass of meaningless platitudes.

Participants in the straw vote today, will choose between either Herbert Hoover and Calvin Coolidge as Republican standard bearers or one of the nine Democrats listed on the ballot: Franklin D. Roosevelt, Alfred E. Smith, John N. Garner, Albert C. Ritchie, Newton D. Baker, William H. Murray, Samuel Seabury, Robert J. Bulkley, or James A. Reed. Men will also be asked to indicate their party sympathies in 1928.

Sizing up the situation in the two parties, Professor Elliott found Hoover the most influential of the Republicans and said it was inevitable that he should head the ticket. Hoover can never hope to equal the prestige of the Coolidge prosperity administration, while the latter is now far too shrewd to run, Elliott added.

Among the Democrats, another deadlock was visioned, similar to the one of 1924 when Smith and McAdoo fought through endless ballots until John W. Davis was substituted as a compromise candidate. In the event of a stalemate being reached between the supporters of Roosevelt and the powerful opposing bloc it is not unlikely that Newton D. Baker will be the compromise candidate. At present, Smith seems out of the running while Roosevelt is continually recruiting strength from all over the country.

Results of the poll, four years ago, gave Hoover a clear margin of superiority with Smith, Democrat, winning the second largest number of votes