The record-union., 1895-11-15
lAMENTABLE IGNORANCE SHOWN.
Election Officers Who Did Not Com
prehend Their Duties.
Errors of Omission and Commission
That Occurred at the Recent
City Election.

have changed the result Oh tlle elSN1i0Ai
in several instances, had any one peen
so inclined who had access to the cleo
ton documents, blanks and ballots, III
saw but half of the precincts. Inc
facts suggest that the remedy for IN
efficiency and carelessness on the part
of election boards is two-fold and dis
junctive, namely the adoption Of voting
machines, or official instruction OF the
presiding officers by one of the Superior
Court Judges, the District Attorney or
some other official appointed to that
duty.
AS illustrative of these expressions let
the reader consider the following facts,
and they will be found not uninterest-
ing, and to make very clear the dangers
to which the elective franchise is eX-
posed. First, what are the require
mentS of the law, from and after
the closing of the polls and concerning
voting methods and care Of the re-
turns.
All unused ballots must first be de-
faced by the ballot clerks in the pres
ence of the bystanders, Immediately on
closing the polls, by drawing two pen
and ink lines across the face of each
unused ballot, the lines to cross one
another. These unused ballots must
then be sealed up in an envelope pro-
Vided, across the seal of which the cleo
tion officers must write their names.
When the votes are counted the tally
clerks must make tallies by groups OF
five marks. When the counting Is COM
pleted and after the ballots are sealed
up, the totals of each tally line for an
office must be written out in full, not
in figures, and a list thus prepared
must be attached to each tally sheet,
or it may be indorsed on a tally sheet,
and certified to in ink writing by the
members of the board, and atteSted as
correct by the signatures of the clerks.
This is called, usually, "the certificate.
The tally lines not filled by tallies
must be blanked out to the end Of the
sheet with two heavy parallel ink lines,
and at the end thereof in each line
the tally clerk making the last tally
must write his initials, each on his own
sheet This, that there may be no more
tallies possibly marked in the lines.
The spoiled ballots must be marked,
listed and sealed up with the unused
ballots. When the ballots are called
off, and fully tailed and strung, they
must be sealed up in an envelope pro-
vided and the package indorsed by the
signatures of the members of the board
written across the sealed side.
One member of the board must take
charge of the package and Immediately
deliver it to the City Clerk in person.
and take a receipt for it, or he may mail
it or express it to the clerk. The other
documents of the board must also be
made up in packages of like character
and delivered in the same manner. On
receipt of them the Clerk is to file the
ballot package unopened, and so keep
it for one year and then burn it still
unopened.
The register used by the clerks, all
certificates of registration used in the
course of the voting, a list of challenges
interposed. one of the poll lists kept as
electors voted. and one of the certified
tally lists shall be sealed up in an enve-
lope provided. This package, as in the
case of the others, must be delivered TO
the City Clerk at once by some member
of the board selected by lot or other
wise The other tally list poll list and
official register used are to be retained
unsealed by the Inspector for six
months.
If all these requirements are COM
Piled with, and it will be seen that
they are not at all complicated. there
viii be scarcely a possibility of fraud.
There will be no ballots TO be substi-
tuted for abstracted ones, no tally lists
that can be falsified no blank lines in
which to put new tallies, no access to
the ballots to abstract some and put
others in their places, no poll lists that
car be tampered with. But if they are
not complied with, it is easy TO under
stand how changes can be made and
the results of an election reversed.
In this city, for instance a change of
ter votes in half the precincts at the
late election would reverse the verdict
of the voters as to several offices.
How was it in the late election as dis
closed before the Canvassing Board?
Take the First Precinct of the First
Ward. The tally lists did not agree as
- or Of off +I,t.
tally lines were not blanked out; the Ger
tifcate was not filled out, nor We're the
returns sealed in the envelope pro-
vided.
Second Precinct of the First Ward
Here the same condition as to the re-
turns obtained, with the addition that
there were no tallies at all on the Off
cial tally sheet only the certificate of
votes cast appearing.
Third Precinct of the First Ward
The ballots were in the ballOt-box and
were not sealed up, and no tally list ac-
companied them In a tally sheet
found elsewhere only one line was
drawn in blanking out, instead Of two.
First Precinct Of the Second Ward
No lines We're carried out in the tally
sheet. The certificate was not attached
TO or on the back Of a tally sheet. No
names or initials of a clerk appeared at
the ends of the tally lines. In the Second
GfeclnCL the same WaEu. no ilDES car
Tied out, no signatures made at the end
of the lines as required by law
Third Precinct of the Second Ward
I3listered with the same errors in re-
turns, as also was the Third Precinct.
First Precinct of the Third Ward
No names in the tally lines.
The Second and Third Precincts of
the Third Ward were correct, the law
was complied with to the letter and no
criticisms apply to these returns.
In Precinct One Of the Fourth Ward
the returns were also correct. In Pre-
clnct Two of the same ward the returns
were done up much as a laundry man
does up a clean shirt package when he
does not care whether his customer re-
Ceives his goods or not. The law was
not complied with.
PRECINCT Three of the Fourth Ward
The returns showed but few errors.
Precinct One, Fifth Ward-No lines
carried out on the tally lists, and no
signatures affixed to them. The Second
Of the Fifth was correct, as also were
the Third Of the Fifth and the First of
the Sixth. In the Second of the Sixth
Ward no lines were blanked out and no
signatures attached The Third of the
Sixth was correct, but in the First Of
the Seventh no lines were BANKED out,
and the certificate was not written out
In words and letterS-a plain violation
OF the direction of the law, exposing the
returns 10 possible involvement by the
changing of a single figure, as was done
Ia the famous Ohio case.
The Secend OF the Seventh was faulty
IN some minor details, but the Third of
the Seventh was correct. In the First
of the Eighth the lines were not
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