The herald., 1898-11-11
COUNTING THE BALLOTS
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At last one of the inspectors, after every
one of the election officers has pulled out
his watch impatiently ten times in as many
minutes to be the first to call the turn, walks
to the entrance of the polling place and
yells: Hear We, hear ye, the polls are now
closed" just as the clock strikes o. This.is
the signal for all the political busybodies In
the precinct to tender advice. Some have
been election officers themselves IN days Of
yore and they have the rules and reguia-
tions down to fine point; then there are
those who had studied nothing but the elec-
ton laws of the state for the past month,
and their knowledge and theories have TO
get an outlet, which if temporarily checked,
becomes only all the more furious as the time
passes on.
First of all it is the duty of the board to
cancel the unused ballots by drawing
cross in ink with pen over the face OF each.
When there are 400 or 500 of such unused
document it takes time, and the arm OF the
executioner aches fearfully when his labor
is concluded. This is the work OF the ballot
clerk and he gets no assistance from the
inspectors and judges whose aristocratic po.
stion places them above the drudgery OF
such merely manual performance.
Next comes the opening of the sheet IRON
ballot box, and this operation is watched
by the spectators outside the rail with
hungry carefulness which would lead
stranger to believe that every officer in the
election booth is an escaped convict. The
ballots are counted and found to tally with
the number given out by the ballot clerk
By this time the tally clerks have prepared
their sheets, their bottles of ink and their
Jy to nronaad-unleSS some
committeeman of the side that foresees vic
tory has had the forethought to order dinner
for the election board. If that arrives be-
fore the counting begins pens and blotters
are laid away and forks and knives dro
grasped by the hungry men, standing in
| front of the now unused iron voting COM
partments, where with neatness and dis
patch they dispose of the victuals of which
they are so much in need, and the ward
strikers growl and groan because of the de-
lay, and fuss and bluster as il the few min
utes snatched from the count for bite
were mortal personal injury inflicted upon
themselves.
Back to work. The inspector draws
ballot out Of the box, where all had been
reconsigned after the count and hands it
to one of the judges. Only one ballot must
come out of the box at time. The judge
opens it slowly and carefully, looks it over
to see that it contains no marks or other ir-
regularties and hands it to the other judge,
who Immediately proceeds to read the
names of the candidates thereon who have
been singled out for the cross made with the
rubber stamp The clerk calls zone" and
the outsiders express their approval or dis
approval as the count proceeds and their
man gets vote or gets left. The challengers
stand around watching the whole proceed
ing, ready to raise kick at the slightest
irregularity which might be prejudicial to
their side; the volunteer challengers-those
officious nuisances who avail themselves OF
the fact that they are free and sovereign cit
izens to dictate to everybody, are there too,
and a good swift kick applied to some of
these impertinent bores, would oftentimes
greatly facilitate the smoothness OF an i'm
partial count.
As the evening grows, interested men nv
ing in the precinct or political FOUNDERS who
have visited every polling place within an
easy radius drop in to hear the result or
tell of the doings at othef precincts. 1t is a
serious matter to reject ballot on account
of irregularity as it raises a storm among
the partisans who stand around and who |
have none of the honest scruples which |
govern the election officers. If man |
scratches a cross out of his ballot with |
Jack knife because he has given vote to
the wrong man and leaves in its place
hole big enough to put a finger through,
that ballot is undoubtedly unfit to perform
the service for which it was printed The
election officers of both parties join in say
ing so. Their action is perfectly fair, but
the spectators of that political complexion
which is going to be a loser by the voters
stupidity don't think so. They protest vio-
lently. howl, jump up and down like men
from the st. Vitus dance. while
the others-those who are benefited by the
rejection of the ballot, approve the judges
action in dignified manner and pat tie
election board on the back
The tally clerks get abused like pick
pockets caught in the act if by some un-
fortunate circumstance their counts do not !
agree by one in some individual |
vote, as sometimes happen, although these
matters ordinarily adjust themselves with
a little patience. The night drags on, the
Judges are still reading and the clerks writ
ing. but most of the politicians have with
drawn, giving the board an easier field to
accomplish their work. Anxious glances are
shot from time to time toward the ballot
box in an endeavor to guess if it is nearly |
empted of its contents Finally the last
ballot is in hand and the weary faces of
the workers brigten up. The count is done
and the sums are added up. The envelope
on which the count for the press is placed
is written with extra care to save roast,
and then when the tired men think they
are done they find that there is enough red
tape business on hand vet to take up good
hour. The lines on the tally sheet must be
filed up with double lines in ink, each one
with the clerks initial in front of the total
vote The total received by each candidate
for every office must lie written in full in
special sheet various documents have to be
signed, envelopes to be sealed with sealing
wax and tied with strings. As the clock
strikes 'steen o'clock every officer of the
election board shoulders load and together
the tolers who have labored "a or more
hours without rest, wend their way to the
court house, dump their loads in the county
clerks office, and forget notch, joy!--to
file their demand for nine big silver dollars
as their well earned pay
AN ELECTION OFFICER.