Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-03-19
WASHBURN'S NEMESIS

WASHBURNS NEMESlS.
Continued from First Page
full bench of three judges; it was appealed
to the supreme court, and was affirmed by
the supreme court, subsequently to the cleo
ton. See Northeastern Reporter, vol. l.,
p. Is, foot page 1926, Brisbin ps. Oleary ct al. I,
being an appeal from the district court of
Ramsey county, in the same case referred to
above. The supreme court sustains the de-
cision of the district court of Ramsey county,
and says:
1.-THE statutory provision with regard to the
numbering of tickets, above quoted, clearly
interferes with and violates the voters cOnsti-
tutional privilege of secresy. 1t is therefore
an unconstitutional provision. The voter can
not be required to submit to its application the
ticket offered by him. The defend
ants demurrer was properly overruled, and the
order overriding the same is accordingly at
frmed."
This decision was made subsequently to
the election in controversy, but is it not
retroactive in its effect upon this case!
It declares that the word "ballot" means
secrecy and absence of every external mark
can be identified. A ticket identified by
placing the voters name, or number indi-
cative of his name upon it, is not "ballot''
in the lsense of the constitution; and has,
therefore, no right to be placed in the ballot
box. When the court decided that such
identified tickets were not "ballots' it GER
tainly fellows that they are not entitled to be
counted as "ballots."
Briefly stated the argument may be thus
summed up:
l. Members Of Congress can only be
elected in the State of Minnesota by "bal-
lots"
2. Anumbered ticket is not ''ballot."
8. Such numbered tickets, therefore, can
not be counted.
They are simply attempts to vote, but are
by election officers deprived of that consti-
tutional element of secrecy which is necessa-
~ to enable them to be counted as "bal-
lots"
FOB CORRUPT PURPOSE.
But it is not necessary to rest the decision
of this case alone upon this ground; the con-
clusion We have reached is based on broader
foundations, which reach the bona fides of
the election in the precincts where those bal
lots were numbered. Not only were the
numbered votes cast in those precincts IN
constitutional and void, but they were so
numbered for q corrupt and dishonest pur-
pose, and were incompatible with an honest,
fair, and free election.
ACTION OF ELECTION JUDGES.
All lawyers will concur that this decision
of the district court was highly persuasive
of, if not sufficient to control the judgment
of election officers in their action touching
the validity of the statute in question. And
we accordingly find, (see DAILY GLOBE re-
port of proceedings, offered in evidence) that
in the city of Saint Paul the judges of cleo
ton met the day before election, took couh-
sci with the law officers of the city, and de-
cided not to number the ballots. They took
this course under the advice of the attorney
general of the State, of the county attorney
of Ramsey county, of the city attorney of
st. Paul, and even of the counsel who had
defended the law before the district court.
A similar meeting of the judges of cleo
ton was held the day before the election in
the city of Minneapolis (see p. 13D. They
called upon the city attorney for his opinion
on the question of numbering the ballots.
He told them that the district court of RAM
sey county had decided that the law was un-
constitutional, and that it was his opinion,
also, that such numbering destroyed the &c.
crecy of the ballot and was unconstitutional.
"They finally took vote as to how they
would conduct the election in that particu-
lar" and decided in favor of disregarding
the law" and that they would not number
the ballots. The vote stood thirteen or if
teen against eight or ten Up. 143.
It was thus resolved in both the cities to
which alone the law applied that the ballots
should not be numbered. This was consid-
cred triumph for the supporters of Mr..
Donnelly, and accordingly the Saint Paul
DAILY GLOBE, the Democratic paper of that
city, which was supporting Mr.. DonnelIy,
announced this action in its issue of the
next morning, which was the morning of
election, in these words:
From the Saint Paul Daily Globe, Nov. s.,
1873, Exhibit B. E. A. H., on file in the Office
Of Clerk of Committee of Elections.
To HrI,Vuc