Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1889-10-16
CAUVASSING THE VOTE.
The Work Begun Yesterday but
Not More Than Half
Finished Yet.
Objections Raised on Techni-
cal Grounds in Cases
of IrreguIarity.

hUlm Od1uIuhyb OaJys t
The canvass OF the vote of the late cleo
ton was begun yesterday Afternoon at 1
O'Clock in the county commissioners room
at the court house and was continued at
10 O'Clock p. M, after thirteen precincts
had been counted, until 10 o'clock this
morning. It lie hoped and expected by the
board that the work will be finished to.
night.
The returning board consists OF Commits.
~sioners Jack and Hall and Probate Judge
Irvine, with County Clerk Booth and Pro-
bate Clerk Sproule officiating as the clerks.
They are attended, SO to speak, by repre-
sentatives OF the two political parties.
Judges Dixon and Kirkpatrick are looking
after the interests of the Democratic can
didates and Judge Knowles and Thompson
Campbell, Esq, are seeing that the Repub.
lican candidatss' welfare is not overlooked.
Interested persons came INT went all yes
terday afternoon and evening, but gath
cred very little satisfaction and no excite
msnt to speak OF from their visits.
TIE board proceeded in the usual way.
The tally sheets we're taken in their numsr.
ical order and after they had been closely
scanned and submitted to the party law
yers for inspection were refgured-that is
the tally marks were gone over carefully
and their totals compared to the regis.
tered totals set opposite the names Of the
respective candidates. In cases of differ
ence between the accredited number OF
votes and the number designated by the
little straight marks in blocks of five, the
total OF the latter was taken as the correct
number.
The canvass had not progressed very far
before there was an objection on the part
Centerville, was reached, Mr.. Campbell
presented a protest against the receiving of
the returns, because two of the judges OF
election were men who had not BEEN ap-
pointed by the county commissioners. The
Representatives of Demo cracy had allowed
Precinct No. 3-heavily Republicdn-to
pass without objection, although the same
grounds for such action e~xistedthere as had
existed in No.4 and to which the Republicans
had entered protest. Cor sequently the
lawyers for the Democratic candidates went
back to the Third precinct and filed their
objection.
1u6 D6puDllC1u dUbOEuOyc cAoWCu q ulS
position to argue tue points then, and a
lively debate seemed imminent. 1t was
warded off, however, by the boards dccis-
ion that the argument OF protests would
be deferred until all the returns haG been
canvassed. Thereafter, when either side
had an objection to make, such objection
was reduced to writing and filed with the
board for future reference. On the whole,
the points to which exception was taken
| were technical, and in some cases appeared
to be almost trivial. In one precinct, FORM
stance, the judges had neglected to carry
out their f~ootings on the tally sweet; obiec-
tion was made to this. In another it was
found that a clerical error made the vote
for the constitution greater than the total
number of votes cast in the precinct;
this was objected to. In an
| other the judg 8 had neglected
to certify to the correctness OF the returns
| and in still another it was found that the
clerk or Judge who had calculated the mum
| Der OF votes cast for q candidate had made
q mistake in addition and given the office.
| seeker five votes too few. In an instance
| OF another kind a candidate was accredited
| with 70 votes more than had been received
| by any other man on the same ticket-an
error that has manifestly been avoided in
| reporting the returns, for the many eyes
l UudU ShAC1AAy e"N 6~A
would certainly have noticed the discrep'
ancy had it appeared in print or on the
public bulletins. But the error was made
a ground OF objection.
The canvassing board objected to giving
publicity to the specific grounds OF objec-
| ton and would not let the written protests
be seen by members of the press; therefore
there may have been objections whict
those representatives did not hear. A
near as could be learned, the Republican
attorneys found fault with returns from
precincts 4, 6, 8 and 10, and the Demo
cratic attorneys with Nos. and Is
When the arguments are heard the board
will decide whether to refuse to accept thu
returns OF any precinct and, il they do re
fuse, the resort of the persons most con
cerned will be found in proceedings against
the board to show cause why such returns
are not worthy of acception.
1t is expected that objection will b.
raised in the cass of the Tunnel precinct
not on the ground that the voting distric
was partly outside the county nor becaus
more than three men voted the Republican
ticket there, but On the ground that som
Of the ballots were cast by men who hat
not lived long enough in the state to &C
ouire a residence.