The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1880-01-03
THE POLITICAL CRISIS IN MAINE.
nrroHr on THr COMMITTEE on ELECTION m
TuRNs.

I
and plantations, which have materially affect
1 ed the result OF eanvasSing the votes returned
/ There are many returns which, owing to the
fatal defects, cannot be counted, but we shall
specify only those which have affected the
result. Article 4, part !, section Of the Re
vised Statutes regulates the manner of elect
ing Senators and Representatives 70 the Leg
stature, and also the process Of transmitting
to the government and council the evidence
by which they are determined TO have been
elected. This section provides that in case of
towns and plantations the municipal officers
SHALL in open town and plantation meeting
at the close Of election day, sort, count aud
declare the votes cast, and form a list Of all
the persons voted for, aud after the name Of
each person thus voted for shall write the
number Of votes received by him. This list
shall be recorded in open meeting by a clerk
and copy of this recorded list shall be
signed by tue selectmen and attcsted by the
clerk and sealed up in open meeting. This
copy Of the recorded list thus attested is to be
deposited in the office of the Secretary Of
State within thirty days thereafter. A sec.
ton of the Revised Statutes requires that, in
addition to the foregoing specific and manda
tory provisions Of the constitution, the returns
shall state the whole number of ballots cast
al the election. The same section OF the con.
stitution requires that the Governor and couu.
eil shall open and compare the returns thus
transmitted, aud from them determine who
appears To be elected, and the Governor is TO
issue to such persons as thus appear to
be elected summonses to take seats in the
Legislature. Uf course the FIRST requirement
is that the returns shall be made aad sealed
up in open town or plantation meeting, We
understand this is required in order that
the electors may be present and see that the
ss,a
aud we are of the opinion that the returns not
made in the open meeting are not legal re.
turns, and cannot be counted, aud we have
acted on this beliefin making our tabulaiions
Several protests, accompanied with aihdayits
to support them, against the counting of the
returns specified therein have been considered
by us. These protests allege that said re-
turns should not be counted because they
were not made up in open town meeting, but
were made up after the meeting closed, in
some private Office or store, where no one but
portion of the municipal officers were pres.
ent, and IN some cases only clerk This
condition Of things, in several cases, has
been proved to our entire satisfaction, and
we have rejected the returns thus defective in
our fluctuations,
! sin the case Of the town Of Stoneham, an
affidavit, signed by two seectmen, establishes
the fact that they signed the returns in blank,
aud that the town clerk took them home and
filed them up, and that the seectmeu have
no knowledge Of what the returns contained.
For the foregoing reasons we have rejected in
our tabuations, representative returns from
the towns of Jay, Stoneham, Lisbon, Web.
ster and Pennington. Returns from the town
Of SearspOrt have also been rejected because
they were not sealed up in open town meeting
BY means Of these reflections five persons viii
/ "a h. 1 -.
not have been thus seated had the returns
| from the aforesaid towns boon made up as the
constitution requires. They are james o.
White, OF the Jay district; Louis Voter, Of the
Pennington district; N. Bradbury, of the
Stoneham district; Joshua L. Jourdan, of the
Searspot district; and Leonard II. Beale, of
the Durham district
i1ho Supreme Court have held that mum.
cipal officers shall sign the returns with their
own hands or make their marks, otherwise
the returns cannot be counted. We have
found several returns fatally defective in this
particular, and have accordingly rejected them
by this rule laid down by the court, The New
Sharon returns have also been rejected By us.
This rejection affects the election of one Rep
resentative. We found several returns fatally
defective, because they were not attested by
the town clerk. The Supreme Court held
that such returns arc not legal, and VIC have
rejected them. They are quite numerous,
but We shall specify only such as affect the
result Of the election.
The representative returns from the town
| Of Lebanon is one OF them. Its rejection at.
feets the election of one Representative, viz:
Stephen d. Lord. Vanceboro' and Albany
are like cases, and the rejection Of returns
from these towns affects the election Of two
I Representative. Representative dis,.;st. l.,
] MT "a a phap1 Of eayaral
In some ef the towns the full Christian names
Of the candidates seem TO have been used,
and in others only initials, and We hesitaled
as to whether we could count the initial names
with the full names. On an examination Of
the law we found that the Supreme Court
| (vol. Ga, page 506, has held that the Cover.
nor and council must count them as distinct
and separate persons. By adopting this rule
laid down by the court tho election of FIVE
| Representatives seems TO be affected, viz
| +. W. Hill, of Exeter; Aaron II. Woodcoek,
Of the pantorth district; James Clark, Of New
Castle; John II. Brown, OF the Hodgdon dis.
trict, and James II. Leighton of the - dis.
! triet.
I "The Revised Statutes require that in the
case OF plantations, in addition to the forms
required by towns, that list of the voters Of
the plantations be sent 10 the Secretary Of
State, otherwise the returns from such plan.
tatons shall not be counted. We found the
returns from several Of the plantations irreg.
ular IN this particular, aud we have specified
them in our fluctuations 1t will there appear
that the rejection Of those returns affects the
election OF two representatives. The statute
requirement Of setting forth, in the returns,
the whole number OF ballots, in nany cases
was not complied with.
ave have found that it has been the prac.
tice Of the Governor and council for many
years to reject such returns, and We have not
deemed 1t safe to deyate from this long.es.
tablished Interpretation Of the law, so fully
recognized by our predecessors, and in max.
ing our fluctuations have omitted all such re.
turns. IL will be perceived that these reec.
tons affect the election Of several Represen.
tatiyes.
"ln the county Of Washington one eandi.
date for the Senate seemed 70 have been voted
for IN some Of the towns of his county by the
name Of John T. Wallace, Jr., aud in others
by the name Of John +. Wallace, but we have
tabulated the votes as thrown for two different
men, as we have no legal knowledge that the
same person is meant. Two sets Of returns
were sent in to the Secretary Of State from
the town Of Fairfield. each of which contra.
dict the other, aud as il was impossible, from
the conflicting character Of the returns to de.
| tut Ncout VI tue election III tnAl
town, we have rejected the returns from that
town in our Iabulalions. The rejection affects
the election OF one Representative. Accom-.
panying, and attached 10 the report from the
representative return from the town of Skow.
hogan there was statement signed by the
seleetmen that certain number Of ballots
were protested as being illegal under section
20, chapter 4, Of the Revised Statutes.
''One Of the ballots objected to was attached
TO the returns. The selectmeu, in their Ger.
tiheaies, state how many Of such ballots were
thrown out, and in this certificate they inform
the Governor and council that they make
their returns subject 10 the legality or ILLEGAL.
ity Of that kind Of ballet. The ballot was in
the form Of an ordinary sheet Of paper. folded
TO make two leaves. On one Of the paees
half Of the candidates names are printed, and
on the next page the balance Of the names OF
the candidates appear. We are fully satisfied
that that kind OF ballot Is clearly in violation
Of the letter and spirit Of the foregoing Maine
statute, and we have accordingly rejected a
number Of such ballots in making our tabula.
tioas.
"a protest vas aed against ooaalin9 the
returns from the town OF Cherryfeld, % lie
ground that officers who attested the returns
were not legal officers. Aliidavita nreaen,ed