Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-07-27
VOTING PLACES MIXED.
People of Clayton Will Have to go to Kenton
TO Vote while the Kentonites wan Rave
TO go TO Clayton.

feople oil clayton VIII nave to go TO hontOn
TO Vote while the Kentonites Win Have
TO go TO Clayton.
Here's mix-up. Among the acts
passed by the Legislature at its session
for 1899, were three referring to kenton
hundred, the purpose of which was to
divide tho hundred into two election
districts and to provide voting place
in each district convenient to the
voters in the Clayton end and the Ken
ton end of the district, respectively.
AS actually adopted, the law requires
that the voters in the Clayton end shall
vote in the Kenton end, and the voters
in the Kenton end shall vote in the
Clayton end. Which makes q pretty
how'd ye-do. Prof. W. L. Gooding,
principal of the Clayton school, and a
member of the Kent bar, was probably
the first to discover the error
The first of these acts is chapter 1853
and divides Kenton hundred into two
election districts TO meet q long stand
ing demand for a polling place con-
venient to the citizens of Clayton.
Clayton and Kenton are the principal
towns of the hundred, and although
Clayton is the larger, yet the voting
place OF the hundred has for years been
at Kenton. The act was drawn by
Walter III. Hayes. 1t sets forth the
dividing line between the two election
districts created from the one Repre-
sentative district, the line leaving
Clayton in the First Election district
and Kenton in the Second.
The other two acts provide for the
voting districts. The first provides
that the subsequent special or general
elections in district No. of Kent
county shall be held in the building
now kept as an inn, tavern and hotel
by Samuel Fortner, in the town of
Kenton." The second reads thus
THAT, after this act becomes law,
every general and special election held
in the Second Election district of Rep
resentative district No. 8 of Kent
county, shall he held at the times and
in the manner fixed by law in the
building now occupied and used by
John S. Casperson. Esq, in The town
of Clayton, and for his office as one
of the justices of the State of Delaware
assigned to keep the peace in and for
New Castle county.
In word the status of the law is
that all the voters residing in the First
Election district which includes Clay
ton, must vote at Kenton which is in
the Second district, and all the voters
in the Second district, must vote at
Clayton.
1t amounts to q jump from the fry
ing pan into the fire.
When Walter III. Hayes was asked
with reference to the several acts, he
said he drew the first one, which pro-
vidos for dividing the hundred, and
may have drawn the other two in
blank, the blanks being filled later as
he was not acquainted with the looa-
tions. The error in the acts cannot
be corrected without meeting Of the
Legislature. There may be possi-
bility that the election officers could
meet the situation by appointing other
polling places in case those mentioned
in the acts could not be secured, and
thereby permit the voters to use the
polling place convenient to them.
General interest is expressed In the
situation developed from an examina-
tion of the laws providing for two vot.
ing districts in Kenton hundred, Kent
county, which, while devised for the
purpose of saving Clayton voters the
trouble of a journey to Kenton, made
matters worse by fixing the voting
place for the Kenton end Of the hun
dred, as divided, ct Clayton, and for
the Clayton end at Kenton. 1t is con-
coded that no such ludiorous, and at
the same time serious, mistake in legis-
lation was ever made in Delaware.
Walter II. Hayes, who drew the
Kenton hundred division bill, says that
remedy for the apparent difficulty is
found in section 9 Of the new General
Election law, passed at the special ses-
sion Of 1898, reading as follows: IF at
any time it shall be impractioable to
hold the election in any election dis
trict at the place appointed by law,
the inspector OF such election district
or other officer authorized by law to
hold the election therein, shall have
power to select some other place in said
election district, as near as can conven-
iently be obtained to the places herein
directed" and then follows directions
to give ample public notice of such
change.
But this section applies to the voting
places specifically mentioned in the
General Election bill, which divided
the State into Legislative districts, &C.
cording to the new Constitution, and
provided for all the voting districts.
The language of this clause does not
seem to apply to the difficulty Of
getting the two election districts in
Kenton hundred exactly reversed. The
polling place for the Konton district is
fixed at Clayton, and for the Clayton
district at Kenton. The polling place
for each district is thereby located in
the other district Now, the question
is, how to make a change that will
prove convenient to the voters, and will
yet be las near as conveniently may
be" to the place mentioned in the law.
For the new location selected must be
in the same election district as the
place mentioned in the law, which in
this case would not materially help
either Clayton or Ken ton.
Altogether, the 8 ituation is a mud
die. A remedy suggested is to attempt
to secure by means of process against
the officers for next years registration
and election, decision from the court
as to the intent of the law. There is
no doubt as to this intent, which is
that the people in the Clayton district
shall vote at Clayton, and those of the
Kenton district at Kenton. instead of
exactly the reverse, as the law now
specifically provides.