The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1876-11-23

,S24 6,lS5 44l7
At the election in 1874 these parishes
gave Republican majority for State
Treasurer Of 1851. They now give
Democratic majority of 4,4I7, which ex-
ceeds the Democratic vote cast in 1874
The Democrats admit that had the Re-
publican vote been polJed the Repub-
licans would have had large majority
Now the controversy stands. On the one
hand the Democrats insist on the vote
being counted in exact accordance with
the number of tickets cast; on the other
hand, there are two propositions. l. That
the vote of these parishes be wholly dis
regarded and thrown out, on the grounds
of intimidation, by the Canvassing Board
2. That the vote polled be counted, but
that the Canvassing Board reckon also
as polled the votes of those absenting
themselves from fear bodily harm. The
average Northern voter has no proceed
ent for such condition of things as Ibis.
In the first place, deadly intimidation is
not known at the North, and in the next
place it will be difficult for a Northern
man of any party to understand how
1000 voters of one party in a county can
be so successfully "intimidated" by 900
as to be unable to approach the polls,
though the latter were protected, or sup |
posed to be, by the United States Super.
visors. 1t will be difficult to persuade |
the people of any Northern county that
the minority, numbering 900 voters,
could so intimidate the majority in East |
Felicana, numbering eighteen hundred,
that none of the latter dare show them
selves at the polls. Nevertheless it is
certain that the negroes did not vote for
some reason. We assume that those who |
did vote were legal voters and know of |
no right recognized by any law of any
state where the votes of legal voters, law
fully polled, can be rejected and they
disfranchised. We do not believe, there
fore, that the moral sense ofthe American
people will consent to or tolerate that the |
election of president ofthe United States
shall be determined and decided, by |
throwing out the votes Of several thou
sand legal votes, legally polled in any |
state of the Union. We take it, therefore |
that the votes actually polled in these
five "bulldozed" parishes of Louisiana
will be counted, no matter what may be
the result produced upon the election by
so doing.
If the facts be as stated, and we have
tried to collate them fairly from thet safe
ments of both sides, the Republicans of
Louisiana and of the country have to bear
the consequences of the panic which
seems to have so stricken the colored |
voters in these five districts. We look |
upon it as a calamity, because we know
ofno legal remedy. There is no Prece-
dent kHO7VH to any election ia7O that ne |
eVsr heart of 7Ohere the VOteS of persons
not Oottng, aHaHOt 06er1ng to VOte, can
be counted, no matter how strong may be
the presumption that if such votes had
beed polled they would have changed |
the result. In 1874. the Democrats cleo
ted at least fifty members to Congress in
Republican districts because Republicans
stayed away and did not vote For the
same reason the Democrats elected the |
governors of several States, and ma
jority Of the Legislature in several states
in 1874. No such thing as offsetting the
vote actually polled by that not polled |
has ever been recognized at any election
in any state in this country. Even in
the desperate conflict in Louisiana four
years ago both parties claimed the cleo
ton, but both parties assumed the vote |
counted to have been polled.
1t is claimed by the Democrats that
their party will have majority of the
whole vote of the state, over and above
their vote in these parishes but, while |
this ought to settle the matter, it my not
do so5if the counting of the non polled
vote be insisted upon by the other side.
If, however, the Democrats do not have
majority except by counting the votes
in these five parishes and the result in
the state depend on their being counted
or not counted, then the issue will be
direct one, and one upon which the
country will promptly reach judgement
and no canvassing board will dare at
tempt to put the judgement Of the nation
atdefence; and the American people will
never engage in civil war to uphold
the counting Of votes never cast or offered
to be cast, or reject lawful votes legally
cast and recorded on the poll lists.