Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1906-11-21

Holly Beach TO all appearances Will
have two mayors beginning January
1st, 1907, duly sworn in and both with
certificates of election. The situation
is an embarrassing one and is watched
with interest by the whole county.
Much speculation as to the outcome of
the affair has been offered, but the
matter still stands, Holly Beach is
equipped with two mayors elect.
What a grand drama the whole
situation makes. Scene: Holly Beach
with two mayorality candidates as
leading men. Cast includes local
board of election, county board of can
vassers, borough clerk, voters and the
villian-the voting machine!
The situation has all come about
through the working of that unassum-
ing piece of mechanism, the voting
machine. Little does it realize the
tangle it has caused.
The JOURNAL man started out this
week bent on hearing both sides OF this
political drama and he experienced no
trouble in securing facts and theories
galore; they came freely from every
side.
The candidates who have been
declared mayors Of the borough are
Frank K. Smith, who has been the
borough's mayor for the past II years,
on the Republican ticket, and Carl A.
Haswin, the independent candidate
who ran on the Roosevelt Republican,
Democratic and Prohibition tickets
this year. The fact that Mr.. Haswin's
name appeared on three tickets seems
to be at the root of the trouble.
On the night of the local and county
election, November the 9th, Frank E.
Smith was duly announced elected
mayor of Holly Beach by the local
board of election from figures taken
from the counters on the voting
machine. No question was raised at
that time as to the possibility of error.
1t was when the county canvassing
board announced their findings that
the wheels of confusion began to grind.
BOROUGH CLERK HEWITT INTER
VIEWED
Clerk newlll WAS approacneu on Tie
subject and asked for an impartial ex-
PLANTATION of the trouble. He told of
how the voting machine had been care
fully examined a short time before
election and instructions minutely
followed for placing it in perfect voting
condition. According to general in
structions, he says, the names of Candi-
dates Ewing for Senator, Lake for
Assembly and Haswin for Mayor were
each hitched together in the machine
on the three tickets on which they
appeared, respectively Democratic,
Prohibition and Roosevelt Republican,
by what is known as the endorsing or
grouping bar. Thus, when either of
three tickets were voted straight, these
three names registered one vote stimuli
taneously on all three tickets. The
explanation for such an arrangement
was that it would simplify the adding
of the total vote. But 1t didn't.
When the election board took the
results of the election from the counters
of the machine, they credited Ewing,
Lake and Haswin with 100, 1876 and
1S9 votes respectively on all three
tickets which were grouped together
by the bar, for the machine plainly
registered those numbers three times.
The board was aware that the bar was
used and made an explanatory note of
the fact on the return sheet as infor-
NATION to the county canvassing board.
When the grouping bars were placed
in position before election, the blank
return sheets had not been carefully
examined as they should have been.
If they had it would have been seen
that the grouping bars should not have
been used to properly fill out the
blank for the county. That the figures
turned in to the county are faulty is
shown by the fact that Ewing, for
Senator, was credited by the canvassers
with three times 100 or $40 votes, which,
plus 2l9 votes polled by Hand would
lead one to believe that 789 votes were
cast for the eSenatorship in Holly Beach.
The fact is there were only 419 votes
polled in total.
The county canvassing board accepts
figures as they receive them on the
return sheets prepared by the local
boards and cannot question their truth
fulness.
Clerk Hewitt states that the machine
was all right, but the manner in which
the votes were recorded on the return
sheet was an error.
MIR. HAswIN's CONTENTION