Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-10-14
VERY SLOW RETURNS
From the Election Boards Will Be
One Result of the New Law.
TWO DAYS TO COUNT THE VOTES.
The Ficket-frinting Contract Held Over
for Another lay.
IxrRAvAGANr WASTE OF GOOD PAPER

Pennsylvanians VINO have been accus-
toned TO knowing all about the result of
the election within few hours after the
polls close, will find it quite different
matter this wear. They will be lucky if
they learn how the State has gone, or even
their own county, within two days after the
election. There are some precincts in
which it is expected two days will be re-
quired to count the votes. The Baker law
with all its fine points is mystifying to the
voter but more so to the election
officers. The latter are, as rule, men of
very ordinary intelligence, and it will be
extremely difficult for them to comprehend
their duties, which are three-fold more
complicated than under the old law.
Even under the old law remarkable
blunders were frequent. Cards of instruc-
tion will, OF course, be sent to each polling
place, but the legal phraseology in which
they are couched will be hard for many of
Of the election officers to understand and
their work will he slow and tiresome.
No Effort to Hold Back
There will be no effort required as in the
past TO hold back the returns until after
midnight of election dav in order to secure
an extra days pay for services on the
board. The Commissioners do not think
the returns IN this county will be delayed
more than a day longer than heretofore ex-
cept in few districts, but they say it will
take full day to count the vote in nearly
all. In the country where returns did not
come in for two or three davs under the old
law it NAV be week before they are heard
from under the Baker law. At any rate
the official figures on the election will not
be definitely known for week or more in
the close Legislative and Congressional dis
tricts.
Contrary to expectation the County
Commissioners yesterday failed to award
the contract for printing the tickets.
The contract will be let to-mor-
row. In the meantime additional
bids will be received. Several bidders put
in proposals yesterday. What their reason
for delaying the matter is the Commission
ers will not tell until the contract is let
tomorrow, but they say their explanation
will be satisfactory to all concerned.
Want to Know, Don't You Know?
The Commissioners of number of sur
rounding counties. including Lawrence,
Butler, Greene and Favette visited those
of this county to get pointers on the print
ing of the ballots Incidentally they pro-
pounded a number of queries opening up
some interesting points in the Baker law.
The Fayette and Lawrence County Com
missioners have about decided to disregard
that section of the law which requires 80
per cent more tickets shall be printed than
the registry list shows to be necessary in
each district They say they will rely on
the Judgment of their constituents to ex-
cuse them for disregarding this absurd |
feature of the law.
AS the law stands, 70 tickets must be |
printed for every so voters in each district, |
or fractional part of 80. The tickets must |
be divided into two equal packages, one Of |
which must be delivered to the Judge of |
election in each district on the Saturday |
before election day, the Commissioners re-
ceiving the receipt of the Judge of Election |
for the package. The second package must |
be delivered to the same person on the |
Monday before the election. The second |
package shall not be opened, according to
law, until the tickets in the first have all |
been used or voted.
A Great Want of Money.
Commissioner Mercer agrees that the pro-
vision is absurd but says it is probably in
tended to prevent a district from being dis
franehised in event of the first package |
being missent lost or stolen. "But in a
county like this, where the facilities for
reaching every nook and corner are so
ample. it seems like waste of money!"
said Mr. Mercer. Take the election dis
trict in which l live, for example. We
have this year 3S5 registered voters. 1t has
been about the same for years, but only
once did We ever have $50 votes
polled. Generally the number is 200
or less. According to this law we
must provide 600 election tickets for that
district There must be 300 tickets in the
first package. If we get out 200 votes this
year we will be doing well, and making al
lowance for 80 or IS spoiled tickets we will
not need to open the second package at all
In a majority of districts the proportion of
votes to the registered number is not nearly
as large as ours and the surplus tickets will
be even greater. In fact there are few dis
tricts where the second package need be