Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-08-23
Election Frauds.

Our esteemed cotemporary, the Western
Sentinel, after demanding, ain the maine
of right and honesty" that the alleged
frauds in the late election shall DE fully in
vestigated by the Legislature, says:
There were informalities in the returns
Of Craven and Granville counties which
will perhaps cause the votes OF those
counties to be thrown out; in which case
MerrimOn is elected. We do not think
that Caldwell should be declared defeated
on that ground alone, for unless fraud has
been used, Caldwell is entitled upon the
merits, and the non observance Of mere
matter of form which does not reach the
merits ought not to interfere with or vitiate
an election. AS matter of right, as well
as policy, we think that unless fraud can
be shown, Caldwell should be declared
Governor.
The motives that influenced our re-
spected contemporary in coming to this con-
clusion do credit to the purity of his pur-
pose and the honesty of his heart in de-
manding an investigation before Caldwell
shall be allowed to take his seat. But
while we admire the generous and chival-
rous impulse til f dictated the conclusion,
in it, and possibly, mainly for the reason
that we do not concur in the premises from
which it is drawn.
We are not prepared to admit that it is a
mere " informality " for Commissioners or
returning officers to violate plain require
ment of the law framed for the express
purpose Of controlling their action; nor do
we look upon those requirements as mere
matters of form.
1t is fair to assume that the Legislature
had specific object in view in requiring
the polls of the various precincts to be
compared immediately after their recep-
| ton and further, that they had specific
| object in view i'll requiring public procla-
nation to be made at the Court House
door of the result, Immediately after it
| should have been ascertained. When we
remember that common mode of cheaf-
| ing i'll election returns has been for the
| poll holders TO carry the ballOt-bOXeS to
| their homes or elsewhere, and .here to put
them in any desired shape, We can easily
see what was the purpose OF the Le9lSla-
tlre in the requirements above referred to,
and how these requirements became mat
tiers of substance rather than of form.
They were unquestionably precautionary
measures, adopted by that body i'll order to
prevent the possibility of fraud.
In this view of the case a refusal or d
neglect1to obey these requirements strikes
at the foundation of the plain remedy pro
vided by the Legislature tor u known, well
defined griev ance, and i'll the scale OF
crime, in the eye of the law, will rise fa1
| above a mere /" infOrmality."
This being so and due respect for the
safeguards thrown around the ballOt-boN
by the Law being absolutely essential to its
purity and freedom, We hold, for the pln-
pose of enforcing a wholesome example
that all parties ought to be held by the
law to the strictest fulfillment of its IT.
quirements.
The manipulatOrs of parties and OF
ballot-boXes must be taught that when
they fail to follow the mandates Of the law
they do so at the peril OF the party success
they hold so dear.
In other cases the law inflcts its penal
ties, not so much for the purpose Of punish
ing past, as for the purpose OF preventing
future, violations of its requirements. The
punishment of crime already committed i,
the surest human means of preventing
crime not yet committed. We simply ask
that the principle the law recognizes il
other cases be applied to this
AS we have said, our purpose i'll urging
so persistently that the late so-called cleo
ton be contested, is not SO much to seal
Merrmon or to unseat Caldwell, as it is tC
restore and to preserve i'll all time to come
the freedom and purity of elections il
North Carolina.
If discretion outside of and in violation
of the plain letter of the law be allowed
to registrars and poll-hOlders or Other
officers, it is idle to have any law at all
Indeed, in such case, there is no law at all
save that which may rest in the bosom OF
these officers. From such law as tins we
pray Heaven to deliver us. We have al
ready had too much Of it.
We contend, therefore, that wherever
there has been violation of the election
and registration act, the penalty therefor
must be inflicted for the reason that we
know of no other way by which we ca,
hope to secure fair and free expression
of their wishes to the people of Nortl
Carolina.
The public veal demands the strictest
scrutiny and the sternest justice.