The San Francisco call., 1906-11-13
Friends of Kerrigan
in Quandary Over
His Position.

NaSs the vote or the recent general
election, discovery was made that the
machines used last Tuesday were in-
accurate, and the question has been
raised whether the entire election is not
invalid.
The popular impression IS that it
should be, but the officials intrusted
with the matter declare that no fraud
of any kind was intended. They argue
that the mistakes were purely me-
chanical ones, and despite the fact that
this explanation in no way lessons the
injustice from which many candidates
have undoubtedly suffered, the canvass
is to be continued today with material
that is admittedly distorted reflection
OF the sentiment leant to be expressed
at the polls. The discovery of the in
accuracy of the machines was made i'm
mediately after the Election Commits
sioners began their canvass. They found
glaring discrepancies in the totals of
nearly all candidates whose names were
on several tickets, and decided not to
continue the canvass without having
some authoritative instructions gov
erning their further actions.
GATOR ASKS FOR ADVICE.
Commissioner Gator accordingly sent
to acting City Attorney Baggett a let
ter outlining the difficulty and asking
for an immediate opinion so that the
canvass could proceed according to law.
The letter, among other things, said:
1t is the duty of this board to merely
correct additions and computations Of
the vote returned as cast at the pre-
cincts. The voting machines are so
constructed that where more than one
person is to be elected to a similar
ONCE. II such person has several nomi-
nations, the machines are supposed to
add the total vote for each such per-
son as the election proceeds in such
manner that a total vote will appear
Identical in each and every place where
his name. is placed: For instance. if
the machines register correctly in
every column and if ]. V. Coffey were
upon five tickets and received 900 votes
In given precinct the machine when
opened should have in each of the five
places in the rear of his name 500
used.
1t appears that in similar instances
the returns do not give the Identical
number in every column, but that in
one or more cases the figures are given
higher than in another case where they
should be Identical, and this board in
making its computation is called upon
to determine at this time whether il
should use the higher or the lower fig
ure so given.
The letter added that intentional
fraud could not have been contem-
plated as the very pronounced nature
tract attention to any such move.
MIGHT HELP HoSMEP.
Apart from the merit OF this conten-
ton. however. there was much talk in
political circles as to whether or not
the discovery of these mechanical de-
fects in the machine would help Judge.
ohm Hosmer to prove that he was not
defeated by Judge Mogan by 252 votes
Attorneys Charles ]. Heggarty, ]. C.
Campbell, Alex Heneymann and Walter
H. Robinson We're present at the meet
ing of the Commissioners in the morn
ing to watch the canvass of the vote
in the interest Of Judge Hosmer and
as unofficial representatives of the Bar
Association
They returned again in the after
noon, when the matter was gone into
in detail by the Commissioners. One
specific incident that attracted atten-
ton in considering the inaccuracy of
the machines was the vote for Judge
Lawlor in the First Precinct of the
Twenty-efghth Assembly District. The
total vote for Lawlor recorded on the
Democratic ticket was 6S. On the In
dependence League ticket it was 81,
and on the non-partisan judicial ticket
81. AS each ticket on the machine is
supposed to record the total vote, the
question arising is whether Lawlor
should be credited with the highest or
the lowest of these three fgures-a
difference in this precinct of twelve
votes.
CREDIT HIGHEST FIGURE.
Acting City Attorney Baggett, in re-
sponse to the request for an opinion,
said that he would advise the Commits
sioners to adopt the rule of crediting
candidates with the highest figures
when confronted with discrepancies of
this kind ON the machines, and the
canvass is to be continued with the
observance of this rule.
Chester Jordan, expert for the Stand
ard Voting Machine Company, admit
ted that the indorsing bars on the ma
instance where more than one candi-
date was to be voted for. This ap-
plies especially to the Office of Superior
Judge. and coming from Jordan with
the added information that the bars
failed to work in the cited cases where
low totals are recorded for candidates
on one ticket against higher totals
for the same candidates on other tick
cts, il is considered a confession that
no accuracy can be attached to the
figures which the Commissioners have
to work with.
Jordan is a brother of Clerk of the
Supreme Court Frank Jordan, and is
State agent for the machines used
here. He said that he had eight years
experience with machines, and that he
had tried all but nineteen of those used
in the city last Tuesday.
The indorsing bars We're put on the
machines by Manager Louster of the
Standard Company, who had two as
sistants. Jordan demonstrated the
workings of the machine in detail to
the Commissioners before leaving the
meeting.
Attorney Heggarty, speaking last
night of the inaccuracies as they af-
fected Judge Hosmer, said that the
machines undoubtedly could not be de-
pended upon.
L will say in justice to everybody,
however. that 1 believe the mistakes
are purely mechanical ones" he added
AFTER KERRIGAN'S PLACE.