Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1884-11-13
The .GaiciaI Count"

The Blaine people nave Decn taihlnS NJ
il the "oliicial count" OF the votes cast
last week in this State did not begin until
Yesterday. In point OF fact, AZ the Times
has pointed out. the official count OF the
votes was the count made in every election
district on the night OF November 4th, ana
there is no other The canvass IN the
counties, begun yesterday. IL merely
method OF certifying this result TO the
state Board OF Canyasscrs more conve-
nieptly than could be done II the returns
were transmitted from each election dis
trict direct 10 Albany. Neither in the
county canvass nor in the State canvass IL
there any exercise OF judicial functions"
or any power 10 do anything but add up
the district returns and report the result.
The Blaine people are endcayonng.
nobody but themselves know why, %
produce the impression that ii may in some
eases take weeks TO arrive at the truth with
regard to the vote OF New York. That II
entirely erroneous. IL is true that when
the state il carried by 30 large a majority
as TO leave no hope on one side or fear On
the other the morning after election, the
precise figure OF the majority may remain
for some days In doubt SIMPLY be-
cause nobody has any particular In
teiest in asccrtaining what that figure
Il. But it is not true that the
result OF the election can long remain in
doubt. nor has il long remained In doubt
since the present election law Was in force
or sincc the telegraph came into free Use
IN every county OF the State. The election
in this State last week was 80 close IA to re-
quire enterprisins newspapers in this city.
in order to supply the wants OF their read
ers. TO receive daily dispatches from all
points which were 10 doubt until the doubt
was cleared up.
This was the course taken by the Times.
and the Illness reports OF the result are
fully vindicsted by the figures arrived at
yesterday by the boards Of supervisors In
the thlrty-nine counties out OF the sixty
the State contains in which the ofiOial
addition Of the district returns was yes
terday completed. The plurality OF Gov
ernor Cleveland over Blaine in the STATE,
according to the latest advlces received
by the Times before tie supervisors
met, was 1852. The variation in this
total Effected by the official figures from the
thirty.ninc counties amounted to-hOW
many votes, thinks the readeri Neither
more nor less than six votes. in total vote
Of a million and a quarter, This is net
result, OF course, OF a series OF additions
and subtractions, but the minuteness OF
these in quantity, while II is an emphatic
viudicatiOn Of the statements in regard
TO the election made by the Tunes o.
its readers, is an equ,lly emphatic
condemnation of the newspapers and
committee which refused to recognize
result so clear and indisputable
and kept insisting that the result OF the
election was still involved IN mystery and
dammit twltah tha tho ennntia.
would be necessary to clear up. The steps
by which the 1imeS'S figures were obtained
furnished guarantee that the possible mar
GIN Of error, after lis dispatches had becn
continued for three or four days, had been
so reduced thai a plurality OF 1000 in the
State was as unassallable as il IL had been a
plurality OF ten times that number.
The minutene>s OF the errors, both in
number and amount, is nevertheless re-
markable. The errors in the Tim.S's
latest reports occurred in nine out OF the
thirty.nine counties now officially report
ed, and amounted altogether TO exactly
twenty-five votes. The counties erronc-
ously reported were Allegheny, Dutchess.
Jefferson, Lewis, Livingston, Onondaga,
Osrego, Schuyler, and Steuben. Four Of
them, involving eight votes, were in Mr..
Blaine's favor, and five, involving four
teen votes, were in Governor Cleyeland's
favor. The difference OF six votes is the
reduction OF Cleveland's plurality from the
Iimes'S latest figures before the county
canvass was made. The largest error was
that in Jefferson county, by which eight
votes were taken from Mr.. Baire's plu-
rality. The next error, this time IN Mr..
Blaine's favor, was OF three votes In Ale
ghany county. In the remaining seven
counties four OF tie errors affected two
votes each aud the other three affected one
vote each.
People who have been in the dark concern.
ing the methods OF collecting election re-
turns employed by newspapers Will readily
understand, from this statement, that the
confidence expressed by the Times in the
election OF Cleveland was founded on
mathematical certainty. while the doubt
about that result affected BY the Repub-
lican National Committee and the New
York Tribune was a mere sham, and the
" claims by Blaine and on bis behalf were
either wiful .untruths or the expressions
OF an ignorance almost equally wilful.
The county canvass thus far reported
covers two thirds OF the State in territory,
and perhaps one third in population. To
allow q change OF $50 votes In the whole
State from the plurality, heretofore elven
by the Times, OF 1852 votes, would be
making an extravagantly liberal estimate,
especially when 1t Is remembered that the
totals for the great metropolitan counties
OF New York and Kings have already
several times undergone careful revision.
and that the margin Of possible error here
is, therefore. far narrower even than .O006.
which appears to be the proportion Of
error ia the returns OF the Times.