Los Angeles daily herald., 1886-11-06
The latest about the Governorship
is that Mr.. Bartlett is elected by a
net plurality Of about 700.
S.tllln Doubt.

At this writing it is more than %
hours since the polls were closed in
the State election. The vote of the
State will be in the neighborhood ol
200 900. The State stretches nearly
1000 miles along the ocean, and is an
average of over 200 miles wide.
Great ridges OF mountain systems cut
il into several sections, each OF which
would make State Of itself.
California is divided into 81 coun-
ties. Several OF these would each OF
ifself make very respectable State.
San Bernardino is larger than some
of the eastern States.
These 81 counties are subdivided
for voting purposes into precincts.
Los Angeles has about 60 of these
voting districts. The counties will
probably average about as many all
through. This would give about 5000
separate voting places in the State,
from which to get the 100000 votes.
Now to count the votes took in
many instances two days. Again,
many OF the polling places are far
away in mountainous regions, many
miles from telegraph stations, and
Hhere the mail goes out from but
r
once in two or three days. From all
these many sources the returns are
transmitted to San Francisco, where
the figures are combined and ar
ranged. Thence they are wired back
to the newspapers for publication.
The number of names on the tick
cts Of each county is nearly one hum
dred.
These are the elements in the sim
pie ''sum" OF addition" and Sub
fractions" the answer" to which
We are all SO greatly interested in.
ssSim ple'' as it is, if one will take
the trouble to make a few computa-
tons as to the totals of the figures to
be handled, rehandled and combined,
he will see why it is that there is so
m uch delay in getting at the ultimate
results. The work of making the
shove computations may prove salu-
tary and soothing to some of those
Who manifest SO great an anxiety to
learn how the matter stands.
These reflections are called out by
the innumerable questionings en-
countered at every step. Rightly
co nsidered they will indicate to
re asonable people why there is SC
m uch delay. In ordinary circum-
tances this delay as to the very last
footings of the figures is not OBJ
served. Usually State or a county
goes to one party or the other
by most decisive majority, and the
general trend of popular sentiment il
manifest from the strong current by
which the count sets to one side OF
the other. 1t can usually be sale
when the large centers Of population
are nearly counted that the State
goes to one or the other by about SC
much. Where there is such decis
i've majority as $4,000 to $4,000 the
public are not held in suspense. Fol
example in the case of Texas, with {
"comfortably safe" Democratic ma
jority of 10000, it does not take al
Official count to settle the matter. Ii
our own present instance there is ar
utter uncertainty until the last pre-
cinct is heard from and the last foot
ings made. The gubernatorial office
il to be won by a majority of less
than thousand votes. In case
like this one has to get to the bottom
Of all the ballot boxes, and get all thu
tally lists completed and corrected
before there is any certainty.