Arizona citizen., 1876-12-23
STEVENS ELECTED.
The Peoples Will Lawfully sus-
 taiued.

lows; H. <. StevCns, ll94; Wm. l
 Hardy, lo49; c. H. Oury, 1OO7; givin
 bIr. Stevens a majority over Hardy ,
 ID, and,oye1 Oury of l8I There va
 no contest or conflict in the return
 from any of the counties except Yav; pai, from which county two certificate of the votes polled, were received On was executed by the Clerk of the BoaI, of Supervisors, viz:
 TERRITORY OF ARIZONA.
 COUNTY OF lAvAPAI.
 I, William WlkerSon. County Re cordcr and ex-o.licio Clerk ofthe Boare of Supervisors of Iavapai county, \ T., do hereby certify the above anC foregoing to be full true and correc statement of the votes canyaSSed fOl the respective candidates and for tho office therein named as canvdsSed by the Board of Supervisors. sitting as a Board of Canvasscrs, from NOvembei 20, 1876, to November 2S, 1876, except Sunday, inclusive.
 By this canvass, as certified above, the Board of Supervisors threw out the two precinc-s of Clifton and Little Col orado, which two precincts gave Mr. Stevens 1GS; Mr. Oury and MT. Har- dy no votes
 The other certificate is executed by the County Recorder attestcd by nis seal Of office, to-wit;
 TERRITORY OF ARIZONA,
 COUNTY OF GAvAPAI.
 I, William WilkcrSon, County Re eoIder in and for the said County of layapaj, in Arizona Territory, do here ny certify the above and foregoing to he fJll, true and correct statement of the votes for Delegate 10 Congress. as returned tO me at the General Election held in said county, on the Eth day of November, 1876, and aS now appears on file in my office
 By the returns thus certified, all the precincts of Gavapai county are in. eluded, giving Mir. Stevens 1GS votes more than the canvass of the Board of Supervisors, certified by the Clerk of the Board.
 These conflicting certificates coming before the Secretary, he decided 10 can vass the vote as returned by the Record CT The la" which governed his ac- ton reads aS follows:
 Section 36, page 235. Compiled Laws of Arizona. reads: When elections are held for Delegate in Congress, the Coun- ty Recorder of each county, shall make his returns thereof, in the manner pre- scrlbcd in this chapter, to the Secretary Of the Territory On the forticth day after the day of election, or SO soon as inc return, shall have been received 1. from all the counties of the Territory. { lfrcceiyed within that time, the Secrc- tary of the Territory shall compare and ! estimate the votes given for such Del. egaie, and certify t1 the Governor the. person having the highest number of votes GC
 It will be seen by thIS section that the duties of the Recorder are clearly and amply defined, and thls law is in full force today
 The only appearance of law the Board of Supervisors can find 10 support their action in assuming the duties of the Recorder as defined in the law just quoted, is found in section 20, page 5l, Statutes of 1873, and reads, viz:
 The Board nf Supervisors shall act as a Board of C8nvasserS, and declareI, the election returns, and cause ceriif ica'e of election to be given by tEe Clerk 10 any person whom they shall find jo have been legally elected 10 any couny, township or precinct office within the county: provided, that the Probate Julg. shall canvass the vote as tn Supervisors, and shall cause the cIerN t1 give 10 each person elected to the "liice O. Supervisor certificate of election.
 This section gives the Board of Su- pe9isors the only power it possesses to acj as a B'aTd of Canyassers, and it| will be seen that il is only authorized 10 canvass the vote for county. town ship and precmct officers. Not word or line in the Laws of Arizona author izes tine Board to canvass the vote for i Delegate in Congress, while the clear. 1 est livia- laT imperltivcly enioins the ] duty upon the several county recorders. Ii In the discharge of his duty Tn this matter, we are sue Ihe Secretary was i clearly guided by the law and lawful. i ly certified returns before him. and we 1 are glad that in this instance the law harmonizes with justice, for a more { fragrant attempt was never made to thwart the fairly expressed will of the ' people, than in the case of the action of majority of the Board of Yavapal :, Supervisors. In certifying to the Governor that Hon. II. <. Steven, received the highest number of votes east last November for Delegate the Secretary simply obeyed the law, ard thereby gave effect to the 'awfully expressed wln of the people ,