The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-11-07
HOW returns CANE IN
COUNTING VOTES WAS A DREARY
TASK.
Was not Completed in Some Districts
Until This Morning-Many Spoilt ball
lots-The First Returns.


had been received from all but three
precincts. These were the second of the
fourth district and the seventh ana
tenth of the fifth district. The delay in
receiving the second precinct returns
was due to the large number of ballots
cast and the time required in counting
them. 1t was II o'clock before to finish
ton board saw their way clear to finish
up their work. The count was finished
in one of the other precincts but the re-
turns We're not sent in to the Registrar
of Elections, Wray Taylor until 10
O'Clock owing to the failure of the ms
pectors in charge to fill out the blank
returns sheet.
The office of the registrar was of
course, the central point where all the
returns were sent. As soon as the
count was finished the returns were
either telephOned in to MIR. Taylor or
sent to him by messenger. The return
of the ballots and boxes was made as
soon as possible. Mr.. Taylor and Sc
cretary Cooper We're on duty all night
and not until $50 this morning did Mr..
Cooper consider the work sufficiently
cleared up to permit him to go home.
Mr.. Taylor stayed by his guns until the
last return was received however.
Every facility was given the public for
acquainting themselves with the vote.
Mr.. Taylor placed the returns from
every precinct upon a bulletin board
just outside of his office, as fast as they
were received No attempt was made
of course to total the figures until the
reports from all the precincts were In.
The facilities for learning the result
of the election We're excellent. Every
precinct was provided with blank sheets
which were filled in with the detail vote
as soon as the count had been COM
pleted. a copy of these sheets was
sent to Mr.. Taylor, and second to
OH i- fIn Int of
the latter to attend to ascertaining the
official result of the returns for as soon
as he learns the result of the election
throughout the territory and the va
rious senatorial and representative dis
tricts he issued a certificate of election
to the successful candidate. These GER
tificates are in turn approved by the le
gislature.
Counting at all of the precincts began
promptly after D. M yesterday as
soon as the polls closed. The task of
handling four different tickets proved
quite a laborious one and in many of
the precincts the count progressed a a
slow rate No stops were made however
the tallying continuing until the count
was finished. To Waimanalo belongs
the distinction of completing the count
ing and sending in the returns before
any other precinct. The vote in this
precinct, the 18th of the 4th district was
comparatively small however. MI. ray
lor received these returns by 7:40 o'clock
last night. All the returns were re-
ceived exactly as Mr.. Taylor had anti
cipated the precincts on the other side
of the island completing their counts
before those in Honolulu The telephone
to the registrars office was kept busy
from o'clock until long after midnight
last evening carrying the various re-
turns. The precinct next to the post
office was the first of those in Honolulu
to make an official return. The Royal
School, the fourth of the fourth district
was one of the largest on the island and
the returns were sent in by $50 this
morning.
Mr.. Taylor was anxious to get all the
returns complete as soon as possible in
order to be able to send the result OF
the election on Oahu to the other ISL
ands. The fact that the wireless tele-
graphy was not in working order prov
ed a source of universal regret, for the
results on the various islands could in
that case have been exchanged without
delays.
In all instances the vote fell below the
registration. Two reasons were the
cause for this. At some of the ballot
ing places the voters took so much I'M
necessary time to mark their tickets
that when the time for closing came
| there were still some people in line
waiting for a chance to get to the
booths AS the result of the ruling of
the government voting stopped imme-
diately at o'clock and those in line at
this time lost the chance TO exercise the
right of franchise. The other cause for
the discrepancy was the rejection of
faulty ballots. AS high as 80 were
thrown out in one precinct and almost
as many were rejected at the Royal
school. Some times the ballots were H.
legal for the markers had blundefed so
badly that the tickets were rendered ut
terly void. The claim is made however
that in other instances the ballots were
thrown out on purely technical grounds
| the slightest excuse to reject an indie
pendent ballot being taken in one pre-