The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-11-15
THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE.

of Utah went to the polls and regis
tered their will as to whom they de-
sired to enact laws and administer the
affairs of the state. Every voter had
an opportunity to go to the polls and
cast his or her ballot unnoleated. for
all the candidates to be voted for. There
/ is no contention anywhere that the
election was not free and fair, and that
the viii of the people was not ex-
pressed.
Since the viii of the people was made
known, and 1T is known that the peo-
pie have repudiated the Republican
party in the state, scheme has been
concoctet, or a conspiracy Matched. to
contest the result of the election IN the
courts. and thwart the will of the peo-
pie. This sudden outburst, on the part
of the repudiated office-holders, of 10y
atty to the law and devotion TIC the
constitution is a thing to make men
wonder. Had they been SO devoted to
the law and the constitution in the
past. the people would not have been
SO ready to have repudiated them.
This "cortest'' scheme whereby re-
pudfated ofice-holders are to hold over
and the viii of the people to be COM
pIetely ignored, has sts chief inspiration
in the board of canvassers of Salt Lake
county, though the idea appears to
have met with favor in some other
parts of the state. Does anybody be-
lieve for a single moment that the
couslty commissioners of Salt Lake
county, Geddes, Roberts and Chris
topherson, have any other interest in
tllGs contest than a sordidly selfish one?
Were the claim thcNt the Australian
ballot law under which the election
was held was not valid and the bal
lots cast were not secret established,
who would be the chief berrefcaaries?
They would be Geddes, Roberts and
C9risropherson. Were there another
election this triumviraite of triflers
would be hurled from power with
greater force than ever before and
buried so deep beneath the ballots of
the people that none would know, as
none weuid care, where their remains
were
Had the result of the election been
other than it is, had the Republicans
been as overwhelmingly victorious as
taey were Overwhelmingly defeated
there would never in the world have
been any question wG1esher or pot the
Australian ballot, provided under the
STATE l2w, was a. secret enc as contem-
p.ated by the constitution.
If the provision of the law requiring
the numbering of the ballots for the
purpose of Identification in case of a
disputed election were declared invalid
that would not invalidate the election.
The late election was absolutely secret,
the most secret ever held in Utah, and
no voter knows how any other voter
voted unless he told him. There is not
a judge of election in the state, not
canNassing board in the state that
knows for whom the individual voter
cast his BALLOT If the vote of the in
dIvidual voter is not known. why is
not the ballot he cast a secret one? If
a contest on the law is brought. the
burden of proving that. the ballot is
not a. secret one will fail upon those
denying the validity of the law. All
laws are presumed to be constitutional
until shown to be otherwise And that
is the presumption ON which every can
wasting board in the state should act.
Supposing the present, election law
were declared unconstitutional as to
numbering the ballots and another cleo
tiOn ordered, what would be the prac-
teal result? The same party would
be victorious and an expense of not
less than $4,000 entailed upon the peo-
pie of the state And an for what? Not
that the law and the constitution might
be vindieated but that a few office
holders ana office-seekers who have
been repuGhated by the people may
continue to feed fat upon the public
revenue. If the law is defective in
this one particular of numbering the
ballots, it can very readily be amended
by the next legislature.
Is any person in all the state so be-
reft of common sense and common hon
esty as to claim that The late election
was not fair and that the people did
not freely choose those whom they de-
sired to serve them in the capacity of
public servants?,
The election was free. What the peo-
pie now demand is a fair count.
Nh FORMAL. NDT1ETC ALTON.