The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-10-23
TIE COUNT OF THE COUNTY.

The Canvass OF tho Votes Commenced
1t Last-Probable Conclusion OF tho
Canvas To-day.
The county commissioners OF elecuon,
Messrs. George I. Cunningham, =. Z. m*i
and Z. L. Rollins, assembled at noon yesterday
and proceeded to organize as q board OF couh'
~ canyassers by the election Of Commissioner
Wall az chairman, and Mr.. W. n. sage as
clerk, and by the administration OF inc GUS
tomary oath to the members and CLERK. BE-
fore the canvass commenced, however, tae
question was raised as to whether IL was tne
duty of the board to make q recount OF all
the individual ballots or to simply canvass the
retnrns already made up by the managers OF
election at the various precincts. General
Gurney, who had been a candidate for Con-
oress from this district, appeared before the
board and
of tho ballots from the various precincts of the
cIty. He said that he had reason to believe
that serious mistakes had been committed by
some of the managers In making up their
count, although he did not desire to charge
any of them with having Intentionally con-.
mitted any errors. Some OF his tickets, ne
said, had been identical. except as to the Con-
eressional candidates, with those which bore
the name of his opponent, and many OF them
had been put together In bundles without
scrutlnizing the names and credited to his op'
ponent, although. bearing his name, and he
believed he had thus been deprived Of q great
many votes. He therefore demanded a re-
count because, although it might not alter the
general result, he knew that it would sno"
that he had at least received In this city q
handsome vote, and probably a majority. This
led to
before the board in which Nj. Bowen and
ACKNOWLEDGMENT Ransler took ground
against The recountIng of the votes, and
Sheriff Mackey argued in favor Of such q pro-
csedine. Bowen said that up 10 the present
time 1t had been the duty Of the county can
ysssers to count the entire vote, but by the
a~mendatory election law passed at the last
session Of the Legislature 1t had been proVl-
ded that the managers of election should
make the count at the various precincts, and
Immediately upon the close Of the polls trans-
hitting their returns to the county canvassers,
whose sole duty then was to canvass those re-
turns, declare the result Of the election, and
transmit the declaration, the returns and all
the papers connected with the election to the
State canvassers. He commended that the act
of last winter had 30 completely amended the
previous election law that 1t was not only not
the duty of the county oanvassers to count the
votes, but that they had not the right to do 30,
nor to entertain any protest wsstever.
THE MAokEY SIDE OF q CASE.
Sheriff Mackey in reply read from the two
acts 10 show that while the later act had made
It the right and duty OF the managers to count
the vote Immediately upon. the close Of the
polls, that act had not taken away the right
and duty of the county canvassers to count
them also, and he attempted the Teductto ad
dbsurdam by saying that If, ss his opponent
claimed, the amendatory DOT had entirely
swept away the old law, then there was no
law under which the canvassers could even
canvass the returns or do any official act
whatever. No fresh powers, he said, had been
p the county canvassers by the
law, and unless they retained the powers
vested in them by the old law they had no
power whatever and no legal existence.
These were the principal arguments on both
sides, and after they had concluded there was
RAMBLING DISCUSSION
of the question by all the persons present..
During this debate Mr. Cunningham left the
building, and after an absence Of about half
an hour esrstnrned and said that he had re-
ceived what he considered competent advice
upon the subject, and 1t was TO the effect that
the canvassers ought not to count the ballots.
BE had consulted one Of the best lawyers, and
one who was perfectly dlslnterested In the
matter, and that gentleman had given 1t as
his. o~piniontthst the county commissioners OF
elections had no right to count the ballots. He
thereforS moved that the board proceed at
once to. canvass the returns without counting
the ballots. This motion being seconded by
Commissioner Rollins and unanimously carried
the board
PROCEEDED TO BUSINESS,
beginning by canvassing the return of Ward
l, and concluding Wards / and2 and the first
precinct Of Ward 8 before the adjournment,
which was necessitated by the darkness and
the absence OF any means Of lighting the
Office, at about five O'Clock.
The official canvass In the three precincts
now completed makes but trivial alterations
TIE NEWS tables, as published last Friday
and Saturday mornings, there having been
but few errors In those tables, and those being
clerical or typographical. The follow
is q full list Of the corrections:
In Ward l, Ezekiel, candidate for adjutant-
general, received ia votes instead OF ls4 as
previously published, and Seymour, tor solIci.
received IS instead Of IS.
In Ward 2, Cannon, candidate for the Legis-
lature, received 5s4 votes instead Of 7s4 as
published; Clyde received $50 instead Of 500,
and Walker is returned as having received 27s
instead OF 578, but In this latter case the man
ayers have unqaestionably made
4 BLUNDER OF JUST THREE uNDRE VOTES.
In the first precinct of Ward 3, Jilson for
superintendent of education, received IS in
stead of s5; slgwald for sheriff, received lT5
instead OF 1T; Richmond received &C instead
Of 81; Cunningham 2ss instead Of 800; Fields
- instead Of 80; Thorne % instead of 80;
Holmes $50 instead Of 100; Brown liz instead
of l0s; and Walker lOl instead Of 100.
nho non-ooaora aaforrpod ,,pfIl ton o5otnnk