Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1885-01-02
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NOT Es.

The constitution provides ample safe.
guards for the election Of public officers
Since the republic cannot exist without n
free ballot aud n fair count, the defenses Of
the ballot are not merely doubled but
trrled. First, the voter may be chal.
lengcd at the ballot box; second, the trus.
tees may throw out fraudulent votes, third,
the County Clerk may nullify the count of
the trustees. In the election OF Presi.
dent and Vice President The defsnses are
still more numerous. After having gone
through the aforesaid deienses, the votes
must be scanned by the State Electors and
sent with certificates sealed to be opened
aud counted by Congress. The fnai de.
cision whether there has been fair ccnnt
and free ballot is made by the House and
Senate in a jnint session. In order to give
fall oppoi itunily TO detect any frauds in
the ballots for State Electors, they must
wait from November till December before
they can meet TO vote for President and
Vice President, and then two months more
hWtt Ntupbt btioEt NOttb COhhttu
by Congress. II Congress ia satisfied that
there has been no fraud in the election,
1t declares the person TO I've Piesident who
has received the majority Of the Electoral
votes. or in case there is not a majority
Congress selects from .le three highest on
the list the candidate who has the highest
number of Electoral votes. The constitu-
tion vests Congress with authority sufli
cient To carry ont the will of the people.
II State adjacent to the Union should
presume to send up its electoral votes duly
certified, Congress would throw tlirm oui
of TIE count ut sight. IL any one or more
of the states within the bounds uf the
Union should send NJ manifest fraudulent
electoral votes, say 25 OF 30 when Its pop
ulaiion entitled il TO only 10 or l5, Con-
gress would not hesitate to leave them out
OF the count. Or, if a rtntc should send
up its electoral votes duly certified, and
Congress should find on sufficient evidence
that these votes had been secured by
fraud-that a considerable portion Of The
citizens had been kept aw,y from the polls
BY intimidation or Ia any other way de
prived Of the right Of suffrage. The con.
stitution makes the duty of Congress in
all such cases too plain to admit of
doubt. In the election of Gen. Hayes To
The Presidency, Congress was ss'newhst
divided In regard TO electoral cOrruptions
and chose a commission to decide the case.
II had n constitutional right 10 secure
whatever aid il might need in order TO
carry out the will of the people. II that
body had seen I'll to refer the case to the
Supreme Court in order to get ut its true
merits by presenting all the facts in the
case before nm impartial tribunal, such an
act of transfer would have shown that the
members OF the House and Senate were
true men and worthy TO be entrusted with
the affairs OF the states. The constitution
Of the United States gives Congress the
power to decide after All impartial examn-
| alton of the election returns, whether
there has been fair expression Of the
will oi the people at the polls or not, aud
if they are so disposed to call tor new
election on defalt 10 make such laws as il
deems necessary for the protection OF the
ballot-box and TO call on, force enough TO
poriect the rights of people. If the North
| or the Soutl, have heen trIfling with The
sncred rights of suffrage let them be sum-
moned before Congress and answer to the
| question of guilty or not guilty, and abids
by the aeoision of the highest court and
then acknowledge the supremacy OF law.