Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1880-01-15
THE MAINE MIDDLE.
Opinions OF the Supreme Court on the
Questions Affecting the Election Re.

Opinions OF the Supreme Court on the
Questions Affecting the Election Re.
turns.
On the afternoon of the 81 inst. the
Supreme Court of Maine signed formal an.
swers to the questions concerning the re-
cent election submitted to them by Gov,
Garcelon. Their decision is adverse to the
rulings of the governor and the Fusionlsts
The court declares that: A representative
is not to be deprived of his rights because
municipal officers have neglected their
duties 1t is competent for the governor and
council to allow an erroneous return or one
that is informal or defective to be aided and
corrected by an attested copy of the record
as by statute provided; return signed by
less than majority of the whole number Of
aldermen OF q city or selectmen of a town,
so far as the governor and council are con-
cerned, must be presumed TO be valid-they
have no right to 60 behind the return; il
is immaterial whether the aldermen
returned to the governor and council
detailed vote of each ward separately or
whether they returned the result of all the
votes OF all the wards for each candidate
together, as either mode is satisfactory
way of reaching the same result; returns
from towns or cities which are not sttested
by the town, plantation or city clerk are
not valid, unless in the absence of the regu-
lar clerk clerk pro tsmpore or deputy clerk
had been chosen, in which case the returns
If signed by the temporary officials, will
have the same force and effect as if signed
by the clerk; the governor and council
must act upon the returns forwarded to the
secretary OF state, (as il they purport to be
made signed and sealed up in open plan Ia
ton or town meeting they constitute the
basis OF action OF the canvassing board
return OF two persons purporting to be
selectmen of a town is valid and sufficient
evidence of the vote of the town; person
not citizen may be elected or constituted
a selectman so that'his official acts will bind
the town, and are valid so far as they
affect the public; if ballot has distin-
guished mark in the judgment Of the gov.
ernor and council such as would make il
illegal under the statute, they have no au-
authority to disregard it in their ascertain
ment OF what persons appear to be elected
where it appears by the official returns Of
officers of tho town that such vote
ceived by the select men subject to their
objection =; If ditto marks, or dots, are placed
under figures or words of the first csadi-
dates vote, the returns should be counted,
because where it appears by letters or tg-
ures in the first line, and by ditto marks or
by dots in the following lines, that the same
class of candidates received the same vote,
there can be no ground for rejection; the
governor and council have no power to re-
ject returns unless au objection in writing is
presented to them setting forth that the
signatures Of such officers Tor some of
them) are not genuine, or that the
return has been altered after it was signed,
and then only after the parties therein in.
terested have had fair opportunity to be
heard. When two lists of votes are re-
turned to the office of the secretary of the
state by the clerk of any city, town or
plantation, and both are duly certified, the
return first received at the Office of the sec
rotary must be the basis Of the action of the
governor and council, and if a defective or
untrue copy of the record, it can be cor.
rected, or the defects supplied, only in &C
cordance with the provisions of the statue
relating thereto. The opinion is signed by
John Appleton, Charles w. Walton, VIM.
G. Barrows, Charles Danforth, John A.
Peters, Artemus Libby, and Joseph w.
Symopds.