The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-02-23

for Governor Carter reception L
members of the Legislature this even
ing except to officials, in addition t,
the chief guests of the evening. So
ciety people in general are not to b.
included in the reception.
S0@0S@os0@SS@ G8@0w00@@ee@s
and deliberate. and it will take him az
awful time. I can go in there and ge
my ballot through in thirty or forty
seconds, and he will take five minutes
You can not tell which one will gel
through first. 1t does not go in rota-
ton
Mr.. Weems. If they would keep the
number on that little corner and not
tear il off, and that man was the
eighteenth man who signed his name
ballot No. Is, would be the one that
he wrote. no matter whether he wrote
it slow or fastg
Mr. Atkinson. Yes, sir. If that
ballot. No 2401. is put in the ballot
box, [ think we can identify it At
the same time, the only method of
Identification is when the ballots are
counted. Otherwise they are kept seal
ed.
The Chairman. Then the only pro-
lection the voter has is his relying
upon the proposition that an officer Of
the election will remove something
that has no business on the ballot?
Mr.. Atkinson. But which he is com
PEELED by law to remove.
The Chairman. No: the law does
not permit it to be there. The law
does not compel him to remove it,
Mr.. Miller. 1t is in all the instruc-
tions that are given to the election
officers
Mr.. Atkinson. And those have the
force of law because there is a gen
eral provision for the carrying out of
the election, and those instructions
have the force of law.
The Chairman. But the law itself
has more force than any instructions
issued under it, and the law says that
there shall not be anything on the bal
lot
Mr. Atkinson. Yes. sir: certainly
This idea, this same thing, was used
two years previously to prevent fraud
I think Governor Garter. who was
then secretary, first used this A man
came out there from San Francisco
who does the printing of the ballots,
who makes business of that have
forgotten his name
The Chairman. You have courts over
there?
Mr.. Atkinson. Yes, sir.
The Chairman. And 1 suppose any
candidate or citizen could have gone in
court and restrained you from print
ing ballot in any other form than
that provided by law?
Mr. Atkinson. Yes. sir.
The Chairman. Or could do it at
any election?
Mr.. Atkinson. Yes, sir; could do it.
The Chairman. And there are also
provisions in the law for testing the
legality of these elections of senators
and representatives in your courts
there, or in the assembly, one or the
other?
Mr.. Atkinson. Yes, sir; but nothing
has been done in that. AS a matter
of fact, this man who makes a kick,
1aukea, has told a clerk in my office.
a man who runs the election. that he
was perfectly satisfied. was very fair
to the three parties. I had Kalania-
naole, the leader of the Republican
party and the Democrats and the Re-
publicans there, and as a matter of
fact the only men that I had trouble
with were the Republicans. They want
ed me to give them a sample ballot,
and I would not do it. I had trouble
only with my own party. 1 had quite
a row with them.
Mr.. Weems. I can see that that
practice serves a very useful purpose.
The question would be whether or not
it did not also. open up a chance of
tracking down a voter, which the law
intended to prevent.
Mr.. Atkinson. It undoubtedly did
when the instructions were not carried
out.
Mr.. Weems Yes.
Mr. Atkinson. But I claim that the
instructions are so plain that if they
were not carried out 1 am not to blame
for it. I did all [ could. If a man
breaks the law. you can not blame me
for not running the election properly
You are speaking of remedies. There
was no protest that I had knowledge
of that was made in accordance with
the law against the ballot They had
q protest book. in which it is sup
posed to be put down. The whole
thing was al aftermath, as I take it.
Ihe Chairman. Have you any COM
pilation of the laws of the election
there?
Mr.. Atkinson. Yes, sir; they are all
here. This pamphlet is entitled RULES
and regulations for administering oaths
and holding elections"
Mr.. Weems Does it contain your
Territorial laws on the subject?
Mr.. Atkinson. Yes.
The Chairman. Is the act of Con-
gress in that?
Mr.. Atkinson. The act of Congress
enacts our election laws
Mr.. Chairman. When was the act OF
Congress passed?
Mr.. Atkinson. In 1898
Mr.. Mcclellan. In 1900
Mr.. Atkinson. Yes; in 1900 We
were annexed in 1898. and in 1900 was
passed what they call the joint reso-
lutions.