The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-11-10
THE NEW YORK COUNT.

THE NEW YORK COUNT.
50 In New York the method adopted to secure
a fair count and honest returns is good in
theory and ought to be so in practice. The
votes for the electoral ticket are deposited in
separate boxes. AS soon as the poll is closed,
the ballots are counted by the inspectors of
election, who represent each party and the
total is compared with the number of votes
cast for each eector. At the conclusion of
this canvass the result is recorded in a docu-
ment which is duly certified by the inspect
ors, who hand it to the supervisors Of the ward
or town. A copy of this statement is also
delivered to the town clerk within twenty
four hours. This plSn precludes any
possibility of holding back returns
to learn how many votes may be
needed to give a false plurality and
it secures the returns from alteration after
they have been duly made. Of course, the in
spectors might by collision, make false
return, but some check is afforded in that
respect by the poll-books, in which the name
of each voter is checked off when he casts his
ballot. In order to alter the returns after
they have been delivered the inspectors would
have to take the town clerk and supervisor
into the conspiracy, and would thus run great
risk of detection
The supervisors who received the original
statements meet on the Tuesday after election
day, except in Hamilton, where they meet on
Friday, as a county board of can
vassers, to determine the vote in
each county At this meeting the
original statements are produced and
statement of the result is made. One copy
of this result is delivered to the county clerk
and another is sent by mail to the Governor
The Secretary of State also receives a copy,
both by mail and messenger. The state
ment is also published by one OF more news
papers Of the county.
The county returns are submitted on the
Wednesday after the first Monday in Novem-
Der to the State Canvassing Board, which
comprises the Secretary of State, the State
Engineer, the Attorney general, the Comp
troller, and the State Treasurer. This board,
which may assemble sooner than the date
mentioned if all the returns are in, canvasses
the county vote and makes certificate of the
result. The electors are then duly notified
that they have been chosen by the people to
cast their votes for President
According to this method, the vote of each
polling place must have been recorded in
writing on Tuesday night, and have been in
the hands of the supervisor by Wednesday
evening. 1t ought to be possible to determine
speedily from such records the full vote of
the State in manner that will be satisfactory
to the people of New York, and of the whole
country.
Unfortunately, the stringent safes guards on
the statute book were set at naught success
fully in 1868, by the Tammany ring, when it
held back the New York city returns until
Tweed and the other conspirators had learned,
by advices from the interior, how many votes
were needed to ''elect" Hoffman as Governor
and the presidential ticket. This fraud was
effected, in great measure, by the collision
of nominal Republicans whom Tweed had ap-
pointed as inspectors Let us hope that all
the Republican inspectors have this time done
their duty, since without vigilance on their
part the legal precautions could not avail.