The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1893-01-13
THE BALLOT BOXES.

Il
cerning the power of county commits
sioners to destroy the ballots cast at
the November election, in order to
have the use of the boxes for the mum
icipal elections III February. In an
swer to this question the Philadelphia
Press prints the following:
In view Of the great expense to
which the counties were put last Fall
for the new ballot boxes required by
the act of June Io, 1891, and the
nearness of the next municipal cleo
ton, it has become an important mat
ter, not only in Lancaster, but in all
the counties of the State, to know
when the ballot boxes can be emptied
and again used. The act OF July 2,
1889, Section "a, provided that the
tickets, list of taxables. one list of vo-
tiers, tally papers and certificates Of
the oath of the election officers, should
be delivered the day after the election
to the nearest Justice of the Peace,
who shall keep such boxes containing
the tickets and other documents to
answer the call of any persons or trib-
unal authorized to try the merits of
such election. The subsequent act of
January 80, 1874, Section IS provides
that whenever place has been or
shall be provided by the authorities of
any city, county, township or borough,
for the safe keeping of the ballot boxes,
the Judge and minority inspector shall,
after the election shall be finished,
take the ballo: box or boxes, contain
ing the tickets, list of voters and other
papers, and forthwith deliver the same
to the Mayor and Recorder of such
city, or, in counties, townships or bor-
oughs, to such person as the Court OF
Common Pleas of the proper county
may designate, who shall keep the
boxes to answer the call Of any court
or tribunal authorized to try the merits
of such election. Whenever the cleo
tion officers of any election district
shall require the election boxes to
hold an election, they shall keep the
same until the morning Of the election
and then open the boxes, and totally
destroy all the ballots and other "a
pers therein before proceeding to hold
the election
The object of the law is plainly
shown by the direction to keep the
boxes to answer the call of any court
or tribunal authorized to try the mer-
its of such election, that is, during any
contested election and if there is no
proceeding to contest the election, the
boxes may be taken out and used at
the next election. Thirty days is the
time fixed by law for commencing pro.
ceedings to contest an election, and
after the expiration of thirty days the
boxes may again be used. 1t is the
custom in this city for the District At
torney to give certificate that no con-
test is pending which requires the fur
ther preservation Of the tickets, and
on this the court issues an order on
the Mayor to deliver the boxes to the
County Commissioners, who empty
the boxes before sending them out
again, This prevents mistakes
1t sometimes happens that an cleo
ton contest requires the preservation
of the ballot boxes of only few of the
election districts, as, for instance, con
tests for ward Offices, and then the
rest only are taken out and used but
when the contest affects the whole
city, then all the boxes are kept until
they are no longer required. In the
meantime a duplicate set has been
| kent and used