The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1899-10-17

5nertm OF the election. All the ballots.
both those voted and those not used,
are then destroyed by the judges
in the presence of the sheriff, the clerk
and inspectors. If there are any ball
lots about which the judges differ as
to how they should be counted, the law
requires them to be sealed and en-
dorsed with a true statement as to
whether they have or have not been
counted and If counted, what part and
for whom.
On the third day after the election
the county board (instead of the
county judge, sheriff and county clerk
under the old law, meet in the county
clerks Office and foot up the returns
for the county, by putting together the
returns from each precinct and makes
out two or more certificates of the re-
suit one to be retained in the clerks
Office, another to be forwarded by the
clerk to the secretary of state. The
only ballots the county election com.
missioners can see are the very few
disputed or doubtful ballots which
may be returned by the election Of
ficers. 1t is very seldom that any are
returned.
When the election is for state Offices,
after all the returns are in, or on the
fourth Monday after the election, the
state board meets in the office of the
secretary of state and foots up the re-
Nd
duplicate certificates, signs them, de-
livers one to the secretary of state and
mails the other to the person elected
The secretary of state is required, i'm
mediately after this is done, to cause a
statement of the votes given in every
county for each candidate to be pub
lished in two newspapers. Notice that
no ballots are sent to the state board
1t makes up the certificates only from
the figures returned from each county
If the election of governor or lieuten-
ant governor is contested, the board
for determining the contest is formed
in this way. On the third day after the
legislature meets the senate selects
three of it's members, and the house of
representatives. eight of its members
and these eleven constitute the board |
of contest The members are selected |
in this way: The name Of each member
present is written on a separate piece |
Of paper the pieces to be just alike !
Each piece is rolled up so that the
name can not be seen; all are then
placed in a box, the box we'll shaken,
and the clerk then draws out one pa
per, the presiding officer opens it, reads
the name aloud, and the process is con-
tinued till the requisite number of
names is obtained.
Can a fairer way to make up the
board of contest be devised? Neither
the state board nor county board has
anything to do with the contest,
This is a fair and honest statement
OF the provisions of the election law
which relate to the election of a gov
ernor and the manner of contesting his
election. We hope this will be read by
every one whom this paper reaches, so
that when tine seuEeICss talk is made
about the great powers Of the election
commissioners, and the fact that the
board can count in and seat any candi-
date or set OF candidates it desires, the
reader of this will be able to show that
those who are doing the talking either
have never read or know nothing
about the election law or are set of
incorrigible liars who know what they
are talking about, but prefer lying to
telling the truth when the latter is
just as easy and much more respect
able