, 1862-11-10
The Republican Representatives
ff6m The 60lh District De.
claFed Elected

cauyasgers. The board suspended action on
then until the remaining returns Of the legis-
lative district were canyassed and counted.
Very elaborate arguments were then heard
By the board upon this irrcgllar;:y, and the
board adjourned for dinner, and on coming
together ngain, the whole matter was further
discussed. Messrs. Fuller, Goudy, s. s. Hayes
and " E. Mcallister, contested that the re-
turas were sufficient While Messrs. King
and linder, sustained the objection.
The substance Of the controversy may be
stated thus: The election 1aw requires the
Judges of Elections to be sworn prior to their
acting as Judges, and that the oath shall be en-
tered on the poll book by the p=rson admin
iste1ipg it. It also requires the poll book,
with the oath, the list Of voters, and the Ger
tificate Of the judges Of election to be re-
turned to tie county clerk, who, in presence
Of the board, is to open the returns and count
the yotes.
AIessrs. King and Linder insisted that the
board Was aspecial body, created by the sta
int, with only ministerial and not Judicial
functions, and its only duty and power we're
to count the votes, and that the statute made
evidence upon which the board conId act
They argued that The returns mnst be In the
form required by law, aud that If tile board
might dispense With one formality they might
with another or all, and TINS set the whole
law at defiance. They claimed that there Was
distinction between the validity Of An cleo
tion and the validity Of the returns, aud that
the only province Of the board WAS to deter
mine thelatter. The question now is, are the
returns sufficient, under the Law, to be re-
ceived rs evidence Of the facts they purported
to shows 1t was conceded, on all hands, that
The ya;id:ty or legality Of the election itself
vas not here in controversy, Twas admitted
by all that the Legislature is to be the judge
Of the qualifications and election Of its own
members, and that d decision By this board did
not finally SIT 1s tic question Of who is
elected.
| It was further contended that the re-
turns mu:t show On their face that the oath
Was previously taken, and that the defect could
| not be now supplied, tor that would
involve the exercise Of . sort
Of judicial fucctions not granted to the
board, md the election law has not conferred
| powers Of amendment in this respect. The
ui:h ofthc whole argument wa, in fine, that the
oath, certified, is made, by law, an essential
part Of the poll-book, and that it Is as neces
sary it should appear there as that the list O
voters, the certificate Of tie judges, or an1
other part of tllc returns should appear on tht
face If thcm-and, that this oath not appear
Ing to have been administered, the poll-bool
is incomplete rs a document which the boart
can receive and act upon. The evidence 0
election required by law is not here.
Of course all these positions we're iage
niously and earnestly contestcdlby Mr.. Fulie
ard his friends. but We have not the space t.
reproduce their arguments. Upon the cor
clusion Of the discussion, Justice Davis q
some length gave an able aud lucid opinio
sustaining the objection. Mr. Hiliiard, tn
County Clerk, concuEred with him in opinion
e Judge Dradwel1 di=scnted, and gave his pa,
ticular views Of the matter,
: The result is, that the votes of The sccoa
; precinct Of the fourth ward; OF the secon
i precinct of the seventh ward; Of the secon
precinct Of the tenth ward; Of the niut
r ward, and of Lake View, are all thrown OF
| AQA uuL CbQulEAA uQHEfEEs
c makes but little difference AS to county on
J, GERS, who may be effected By This action, the
!, have remedy in the courts as to the Lee
islaturc, the certificate must be given to II
n King, but that body has power, it is concede'
e to examine :nto all the iacts, irrespective
6 certificates. Ne understand that he is on
willing to receive the certificate because
can shoE enough illegal votes for Fuller
Is disentitle the lstter tt seat, upon the merit
e It is well known, that tltty-three men Of OF
company Of the Irish Legion, voted In 4 bod
1t at the second preciuct Of the fourth war
): and, nlso, tia. thirty five men Of another COZ
pany OF the Legion voted, in body, at I
second precinct Of the third ward, not one
whom was resident Of either ward. In Il
Inter instance, the judges Of election rcfns
to receive their votes for town officers On t
ground that they were not residents, but he
that because they we've soldiers, they cou
:. e. vote the county and State tickets anywhere
: and their votes were received.