The record-union., 1892-11-15
BRAINS IN ELECTION BOARDS.

If there was slow counting anywhere
in California after the election of Tuesday
it was due to the incapacity and stupidity
of clerks, and often to the thick-head-
edness of judges and inspectors. If
voters could stamp and deposit $50 ballots
In ten and a half hours two clerks and a
board of judges ought to be able to call
off and tally the same ballots in the same
time or less, including lost time in pass
ing upon disputes.
In one precinct in this city, with 2O3
votes cast, the count was completed be-
tween $50 P. NJ. and 1910 A. H., or six
hours and forty minutes. Yet in pre-
cinct a few steps distant, with but 260
votes, the count lasted until A. NJ, or
nearly four hours longer.
Another had but thirtY-fve more
ballots to count than the first mentioned,
but did not complete the count until A.
NJ, taking nearly six hours longer than a
precinct that had but thirty-fve less
votes.
One precinct that had for clerks skilled
accountants and practical keepers
won the laurel by being the last to finish
and hanging on until daylight, though
the vote was but little in excess of pre-
cincts that counted out about midnight.
We cite these instances to prove tha.
rapid counting or slow counting is neither
TO be credited to nor charged against the
ballot law; both are matters into which
brains must enter. What is wanted is
competency, intellectual and clerical. The
exclusion of men from Election Board
service who do not happen to be upon the
assessment-ron shuts out some Of the
brightest and most competent people.
In one precinct we have in mind the
Election Board found a ballot on which
the voter had stamped for Presidential
Electors ten names, selecting from the
several party groups. That board wran-
gled for more tLan an hour, and had a hot,
wOrdy warfare over the discovery. Part
of the board claimed that the whole ballot
must be thrown out, while the remainder
held that the electoral vote only was lost.
Yet the law is so rlsin that a primary
pupil could read and ulderstand it:
If voter marks NOR. names than there are
persons to be electca - any ohice, or If for
any reason ii is impOSsill lie to determine the
voters choice for any office to be filled, his
ballot shall not be counted for such Office.
It will scarcely be believed that men
with thimbleful of brains would hesi-
tate an instant to decide that only the
electoral vote was lost.
In another case there was a long wrangle
because a voter had written in name. 1t
was not stamped. Yet the law reads, and
was read to the board:
Any name written upon a ballot snail be
counted for the Office under which il is writ
ten, whether or not a cross is marked after it.
We repeat, what is wanted on Election
Boards is ordinary. plain, every
day, common sense, business brains. As
it is now, it seems that about one-third of
the Election Boards put up are the
refugees for all the stupidity, stubborn
ness and incompetency that can be raked
up in the precincts, The law excluding
School Trustees, deputies in office, clerks.
Postmasters, lesser officials and other
competent men is absurd. It deprives
the people of the services of men who
would conduct an election with business
capacity.
But still the fault lies primarily with
the appointing power. They have au-
thority to compel any citizen physically
able to serve; they ought, therefore, to
make the boards frst-class and as strong
as the necessities of the election de-
manded. Hereafter let it be understood
that, as the people pay good price for
Election Board timber, they shall get
value received in the shape of brains and
the dextrously capable.