Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1854-08-23
THE sHERIrF's RETURN.

case before the County Court, to argue in
our columns questions upon which the Court
would be called to net We propose now,
briefly, to allude 10 the subject of the certii-
cate Of election, given BY the Sheriff 10 ilr.
Newcomer, because the editor Of the ere
pubiicano and others in the interest Of Mr..
Tushwa, utterly regardless Of any consdera-
ton except that Of electing their candidate
have not only diligently, and as they sup
pose, adroitly suppressed both law aud facts,
bat have made it the basis of most unjust
imputations upon the Sheriff.
The position taken by the Sheriff, is one
inprcgnable to all assaults of argument BY
editors or lawyers. Tt is one, in which his
counsel had, and have now, mistaken conf
dencc. 1t is one, which it was not necessary
for the Court TO consider, but which, if it
had done so, would, we are assured, have
been sustained by that body.
That position is, that if there was mis-
take in the Oak Grove poll, the Court alone,
and not the Sheriff, could correct it.
1t will readily occur to any ono, as alto
gether improbable that the law could confer
any power upon mere conductor o. The
poll al the Court House, (who may not be
the Sheriff cven) TO supervise the precinct
returns. The precinct polls are kept by
sworn officers. They are six or eight in num-
ber-he is but one. They are prescnt-ho
is absent.
The law makes provision for the correct
keeping and certifying the polls. The Off
GERS to perform those duties, are the COM
missioners, conductors and rriterS at each |
poll 1t is this law, which it has suited the
purposes Of suppression and misrepresenta-
ton, not to publish.
1t enacts-''Iac correctness Of the poll
shall be certified By the commissioners su-
perintendiag the election and By the officer
conducting the same"
In this ease they so certified, that Mr..
Newcomer had received the number of votes
which gave him one majority in the election
and the enumeration at the foot of the
Oak Grove poll was in accordance with their
certificate.
A single question, at this point, should
close the argument Why should any but
judicial tribunal, acting upon legal evidence
before it, be empowered to correct that re-
turn
The law confers that power upon the
Court. We, then, find two sets of officers
the one, the commissioners and conductors
to certify as to the correctness Of the poll
the other, the Court, to enquire into alleged
errors Or mistakes in their ccrtifcate-and it [
is gravely argued that a conductor at the |
Courthouse, mere ministerial officer ike
arise has that pouer
This pretencc is based upon the general
words of the law ''eramiae the poll" They |
occur in section, which, true to the instinct
which prompts cunning disputant to hide !
the law, has been published only in part 1t
provides that ia district, corporation or
entire county election, the officers conduct
ing the polls in the first two cases, and the
conductor at the Courthouse in the last
case, shall examine the poll-ascertain and
declare the result The plain object of the
provision is to have some formal declartioa
of the result of the election. If it is an cleo
ton for district ofhcers-magisirates, con-
stables, &e.-t that is done by the officers
conducting il. If it is a county election
some person must be authorize to certify
and make known ,raat Ike different potls ad
ded togeth1r, ascertain to be the result.
If there were no other reason for regard
ing this as the only object of the section re-
ferred to, it would be sufficient that, in
mere district election, the conductor at the
Courthouse, admittedly, has nothing to do
with the poll at all. Why, if he could as
sumo to correct the poll Of an election for
Sheriff, should he not hare the power to
correct the poll of an election for magis-
rates The same mistake might exist in the
latter as in the former, and yet it is preten-
ded that he could correct one and let the
other stand
A reference to the code Of 1910 solves all
difficulty and removes all doubt as to the
meaning of the act of 1852, in which the
section under consideration is found. The
one is almost entirely the copy Of the other.
1t asccrtains what can be the only meaning
of the general and underlined words ''e1am-
inc the poHS"-not that the conductor at the
Courthouse is to count the poll even, as con-
tended for--not that he is to erect himself
into judge to inquire into, and annul as IN
correct that, which is certified by regularly
appointed and sworn officers to be correct
IL Ll.nt ,,nall.Lnl t.nunar of nNarnina ION H