The Bolivar bulletin. (Bolivar, Tenn.) 1888-1946, 1904-09-16

the recommendation of the chairman
OF the State Republican and Demo
cratic executive committees, who
should appoint an election board in
each county, who should appoint all
election officers. This year they are
in favor of going back to the old
sheriff system. What they will advo-
cate two years from now no power
| can foretell. 1t will doubtless be
something which they think will give
them some partisan advantage and
rot anything in the interest of hon
est government.
What were the causes which led to
the adoption of the law? Under the
! old system one man had the power to
name every judge and clerk and cleo
ton officer in the county. That man
was always partisan, representing
the majority in his county, and hence
! the minority had no representation
! and no voice in the selection of these
| officers. Under this one-man system
! frauds were easy and frequent, and in
/ many counties in East Tennessee,
where every officer was Republican,
| they became notorious and scandal
Gus. In the Turney-Evans contest,
! the undisputed proof showed that in
many of these counties the poll tax
| and other laws were openly and will
fully violated, and thousands of IL
legal and fraudulent ballots received
and counted and the school children
| of the State robbed of their just dues.
1t was to meet and prevent just such
wrongs as these and TO give the mi
nnritE fiGn the hoard
clothed with the selection of election
officers, that this law was passed.
Under this law there is-one Repub-
lican Judge and one Republican clerk
at each voting place, and it is diff
cult to see how fraud can be commit
ted without their participation. There
are some 1900 voting places in the
State, and when my competitor
charges the wholesale stealing of
elections in Tennessee, he not only
ISLANDERS every Democratic election Of
ficer, but he ISLANDERS 5000 sworn
officials of his own party.
That this law has prevented fraud
in East Tennessee is proven beyond
the possibility of question, by the fact
that in 1894 when Republican sheriffs
held the elections, the Hon. H. Clay
Evans, Republican candidate for gov
ernor, received, according to the face
of the returns, 56,747 votes in the
counties of East Tennessee, while
four years later, in 1898, when the
elections were held in each county by
a board composed OF two Democrats |
and one Republican, the Hon. James |!
Fowler, an equally able and popular /
candidate, only received 39,444 votes. |
Both elections were held in off years /
when no president was VOted-tor, and |
nobody ever contended that Mr.. |
Fowler did not receive the vote OF |
his party, or have counted for him !
every vote cast for him. No, my fel- /
low citizens the trouble with our Re
publican friends is that these laws !
have prevented them from stealing !
elections in East Tennessee, and |
there is where the shoe pinches. i
Does that party favor fair, non-parti-
san and honest election laws, and can |
il be trusted to write an election law
for the people of Tennessee? Let us
examine it's record for a moment |
When the Democratic party came into
power in 1870, they did not find the
law empowering sheriffs to appoint
election officers on the statute books
Oh, no! They found there these laws
which l shall read to you, and they
we're the last laws passed by the Re
publican party on the subject OF cleo
tons in Tennessee:
THAT the governor of the State
shall within sixty days after the pass
age of this act, appoint commission
Of registration for each and every |
in the State, who shall keep
his Office at the county seat of tho
and it shall be his duty to reg
ster the names of each and every
qualified voter, and to issue a certif-
cate that such voter is entitled to the
privileges of the election franchise"
And not content with that, the Re-
publican party waited one more year
and then placed this election law upon
the statute books:
1T shall be the duty of the commits
sioner of registration of voters to hold
Ill elections now required by law to .
De held by sheriffs, and that for that
purpose he shall have all the powers
md rights that sheriffs now possess
The judges and clerks of all elcc- .
ions shall hereafter be selected aud 1
appointed by the commissioner OF reg ,
stration in each county in the State"
That the governor of the State be {
and is hereby fully en- {
powered, TO set aside the registration g
If any county IN this State, or any {
'art thereof of said registration, where j
t shall be made to appear TO the salts {
action of the governor, that frauds J
md Irregularities have interviewed N (
he registration of voters in such coun- 6
Y. The governor shall make known {
UGH fact, and set aside said part, or 1
ghole of said registration, where |
rauds are shown to have been cCn,- ;
nitted, by proclamation. Sec. /, Acts
f 1S67-S, page 6S.) ~