New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-11-11
WY THERE rs DOUBT

II is asked bv many why there should be my
doubt rs 10 the result of ~ election after tcle-
grams have been received from ire Inherent
counties announcing what Ia called the
" official" vote IN those counties On the pre-
sumption that such tclcgtnms settle oil CON
,rovcfAy. Democratic committees and nowT'
pppe,A have been loudly asserting the election
ol Govono, Cleveland. aud dononncing thoHn
who oueal,oned that result m II they were seek
img to defeat the viii al the people clent rN-
plnuntio, ol lhin mn,lol seems at thia Time Ia be-
desirable,
There il, first II conflict of dispatches ms to
the result IN the different counties, Tho dis
patches received by the Democratic Committee
do not agree with the dispatches received by
the Republican Committee. Nothing bnl the
official count can determine which information
as to any county is correct.
But the returns hitherto called official are,
I'm fact not of that character until they nave
been officially cauvasscd by the county boards
which meet To day. In some of these boards
the Labor of cnnvassing the vote is usually pro-
longcd several days; in this city ten days or
more. In others, much the larger number, 1t Ia
quickly completed. But the duty OF the can
yassing board is in all cases the same 10 asccr-
tain from the returns what the actual vote WIS
in the different precincts, and where the re-
firms are defective or blind or on their face
probably erroneous to examine the inspectors
and cause the returns to be corrected. In
cases of doubt this labor requires delay OF one
or more days.
1t should not he matter of surprise that the
result of the election Is thought To turn upon
Al. Lara A.
something like 1900 election precincts i'll the
State, and errors averaging not more than one
vote for each precinct woIld cover lar more
than the plurality claimed for either candidate.
Nor is it by any means to be presumed that the
returns first made are accurate. Experienced
ATTORNEYS state that at least 100 Of the returns
from this city alone usually require correction.
Asa rule. the corrections in favor OF one party
nearly balance those in favor of the other party,
but there can be no certainty until the returns
have been examined, officially canvasscd and
finally corrected
But in every important election there also
arise questions affecting the decision of the in
spectors in many districts. a large number OF
defective ballots are offered, and these in every
election whether counted or rejected, make a
considerable difference in the result. IL is
claimed for instance, that more than 1000 de-
fective ballots of the one party or the otlv l
have been rejected by the inspectors OF election
Oh Tuesday last. If it should prove that, III
strict conformity to law, "A larger proportion OF
these should have been counted for one party
than for the other, the result might depend
upon that decision. The fact is that the number
of such defective ballots ut the recent election
was larger than usual. and the questions to be
decided in regard to them present unusual diff
culties.
In almost every ease, also, returns are made
which ARE obviously erroneous, though IL be-
comes a very difficult matter to decide what the
correct returns should have been In each cnsc.
inspectors often report, FOR example, larger
number Of votes cnst for the several candidates
ibnn appear from their total statement io have
been east Tot all candidates. In such rases The
Inspectors in,sl be required TO show which Of the
two statements IL The correct one, AMI how Ihi
if AT al, the vote FOR the stveial candidates
teaui,es Modification, When " Ia considered
tha, such errors 0ccui every tehi w hundreds
vi election districts IA the state, that they ayei'