Ellsworth American., 1880-09-09
kennebec Journal 1
A Word to Town Clerk.

Much has been said. and ,ru,hfully. oi
the vital Importance Of true and correct re-
surns being made Of the r-sul, Of elections
II is true that the laws Of the State furnish
remedy whereby errors, II discovered. ma,
be corrected by the record. but j, cannot al.
Ways be known that the returns do no,
agree With the record. and j, sometimes oc-
ours that the record itself is defective. A.
an example Of the frequency With which rr.
rors occur, ve would state tina; an examina.
ton Of the guberus,orial returns from ,~en.
eight towns we're erroneou. in the spelling
or writing Of the names Of the candidate.
voted for. Votes which should have been
returned for Daniel r. Davi. we're returned
as cas-, for Daniel +. DAVID. u. =. Davis,
and Daniel r. Smith. Votes intended 70,
Joseph l. Smith. we're returned a. for Jos.
eph Smith JOS. l. Smith. j. l.. Smith. Jos.
eph Smith and Joseii l.. Smith. While Garcc.
lon's name ~ss .rroneously spelled a. Gas.
lin. Garsion. Gacelin. GArcellon, Garrelon
Gsrclon. Gaselon and Gar,lin; Alonio he.
ing further tortured into Alamo, Anolre
Aloro. Eloneo and Eonro. the whole mum.
brr Of VOTES thus incorrectly returned
amounting TO 5sss-enough ,o chang, the &c.
suit Of an election When clo.e.
These errors eanno, al~svs be chargeabls
20 the ignorance Of the clsrk a. in somc in.
stances the returns are flled up by one Of
the sslectmcn, an instance of which IL in the
return from the town of Freedom. in Waldo
county, where the return j, IN the hand mt.
ing o! the fra; selectman Of the town. and
thirty ono votes arc returned for Elonrc
GArcclon; the selsctman referred TO b~.ns
n.h thar h.. E...t.. 4 IL
county. Who ss Prr.iden, Of the Ga, Senate
essAycd for day o, ;vo The role oi Govern.
OF Of Maine. Another error ls the omission
both Of the name Of thr town and count,
from ;he.s proper place in the rr,urns. and
IN one instance ever assessor and The CLERK
Of a plantation in Mada~ Aska male he marA
insir>d Of signing his name and none Of The
mafks vcrc witnessed. unless the naue o
another parry written IN the corner ~as in
tended for ,hA; purpose. In the return ot
another plantation the names Of too Of the
assessors we're signed BY their mark. 9th
no prr;snee in an, form Of being witnessed
Many other ins;ancrs nigh, b- given Of er-
rors in returns, bat these are sufficient q
show the absolute necessity Of carcfulnrs,
in this particular and &c urge upon the ,o~r
officials whose duty II is 10 mako up the
election returns TO 80 ,t tn. ~ - ,-.Do-
erly done and the legal requirement, falillet
in every particular.
The following rules should be rigidly OBJ
served Insert in the spaces left for then
the name Of town and county Insert tho
whole number Of ballots gwen for each offie,
and the number Of VOTES for each eandida:.
plainly vri,;en. and the names oorrec,l,
spelled. In writing the names Of candidate.
do no, wriie them a. yos think they arc
bu; copy them as they are written OF prinieC
on the ballots
The returns should be . true copy o! thu
records, and sisned by the selectmen AM
clerk AID sealed up in open town meeting
Read carefully the direction. printed on ,h.
blanks sent you for returns. and follow then
implicitly.
BY a careful Observance Of the foregoing
hints you ~ill not only give a correct return
| OF the votes As cast, bu, YOU will greatly a.
sisi ihose whose duty il is TO canvass and
iabula;e the returns, so that every ,o;ei
shall no; only be able 10 cas-, his vote fol
the candidate Of hi, choice. bu, after sc
casting il shall give its influence in deter.
mining the resu, Of the election. without
which his time taken in going TO the poll,
TO deposi, his ballot is thrown away and be
is deprived Of all voice in shaping the Affair
Of the country.
We will add to the above that while but
three errors appear in the votes referrec
to above returned for Republican eandi
dates. twenty-five appear in those for the
| Fusionis;s.