The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-05-15
COUNT OF THE BALLOTS.

Ga. AS soon as the election polls shall
have been closed the judges in their sew
eIai precincts shall Immediately, and at
the place Of polling, proceed, as herein
cast, having first sealed up the unused
ballots remaining of the package last
broken by them, and endorsed the same
with their signatures as unused bal
lots" The canvass shall not be adjourn
ed or postponed until 1t shall have been
fully completed, nor until the several
made by the judges and clerks shall have
been made out, signed and sealed by
them. The judges shall have the right
peace within the room wherein such can
vass is made, in order to keep tie peace.
The challengers and watchers shall be
and SO near that they can see that the
judges and clerks are faithfully perform
ing their duties.
IS. Immediately after the closing of the
the coupons taken from the ballots cast
shall be destroyed, and each of the cleo
ton clerks shall write his name in each
Of the poll-books Immediately under the
name of the last voter and the judges
| shall write, in ink, opposite to and against
the name of each person entered in their
tiers to have voted, and In the appropriate
column headed Voted" the word No"
SO that the said column may be wholly
filled up, and the judges shall then COM
ascertain the number of persons who, by
| said registers, are shown to have voted
at that polling place on that day; and
when they have made comparison and
| ascertalned such fact they shall an
nounce the same in loud voice.
&C. The judges shall then open the bal
number of ballots in the box. They shall
reject any ballots which are deceitfully
folded together and any ballots which do
not have endorsed thereon the name or
mi tia1 of he IliU hn hold No !, 1,+e-
If the voter has marked more names than
there are persons to be elected to an office
or If for any reason 1t is Impossible 70
determine the voters choice for any office
to be filled. his ballot shall not be counted
for such office. Ballots not counted tor
such defects shall be marked defective"
on the back thereof, and shall be wrapped
in separate package and returned in the
ballot-box. as hereinafter directed. Where
the voter makes the cross-mark opposite
party emblem his vote shall be counted
as cast for all the candidates in such party
group whose names are not erased, and
the effect of such marking shall not be
altered by his also making the cross-mark
| opposite one or more names of candidates
| in the said group: but if voter shall have
| made the crossmark opposite a party
name emblem. and also opposite one
or more names of candidates in another
column, his vote shall be counted for each
candidate so marked in another column,
and also for all the candidates under the
marked party name or emblem whose
names are not erased, and each name IN
| the said marked party group opposite the
name of any candidate marked as afore-
said IN another column shall be deemed
| erased unless the voter has, by erasure
| indicated some other name in the said
stead. The Said Judges shall count the
| votes in the following manner: They shall
open the ballots, and all of these shall be
canvassed separately by one of the judges
| sitting between two other judges, which
| judge shall call out each name and the
| office for which it is designated. the other
time and the clerks making tally of the
same. or the said Judges may first can
vass and count the straight or full tick
cts. laying aside, whilst. SO doing, the
| split or scratched" tickets, and after
| they have SO canvaSsed and counted the
straight or full tickets they shall, if such
there are, proceed to call oft. canvass ard
count each name and the office for which
| II is designated on the split or scratched
tickets so previously laid aside. the sew
| eral judges looking a each ballot and the
| clerks making tally of the same. When
| all the ballots have been canvaSsed in
| this manner the election clerks shall com
pare their tallies together and ascertain
| the total number of votes received b.,
| each candidate, and when they agree upon
the numbers one of them shall announce
| in a loud voice to the Judges the aggre-
| gate number of votes received by each
| candidate. If requested by any watcher
| or challenger present at any canvass, Il
shall be the duty Of the judges. and each
| OF them, to exhibit to such watcher or
| challenger any ballot cast, fully opened.
or in such condition and manner that he
may fully read and examine the same,
but the judges shall not allow any ballot
to be taken from their hands. AS the
ballots are counted they shall be strung
upon strong tWine-
Co. When the canvass of the ballots
shall have been completed, and the clerks
shall have announced to the judges the
| total number of votes received by each
candidate, each Of the judges of election:
in turn. shall then. proclaim in loud
N-Oips the total number of votes received
by each person voted for in such precinct
and the office for which he is designated
and the number of votes for and the
number of votes against any proposition
which shall have been submitted to the
vote of the people. Such proclamation
shall be prima facie evidence of the re
suit of the canvass of such ballots. In
the city of Baltimore the judges shall
! Immediately after such proclamation de-
liver to policeman on duty at the poll
their IS, which shall be sealed up
| and fc tn conveyed by the said police
| man office Of the s2of Polio