Arizona republican., 1907-01-13
ENDED IN TIE
 FOR TREASURER
6abbitt and Miner FaCh
 1899 Votes
The Former, the De FactO Official Will Probably Remain In Office.


 ! election contest that ever took place was concluded yesterday with the end ! ing of the second recount in the case
 of R. F.. Miner against Don c. Babbitt ! for the office of county treasurer. II ended in a tie. there having been cas;
 or. rather, counted, for each candidate l 1899 votes. There was never moment until the last decision had been made | that any idea could be formed of the result When the last precinct had | been passed over the doubt was as great as when the count was begun, for there were several ballots on Judge Rents desk yet to be decided upon And when all of these had been dis posed of there was the possibility that an error had been made in the tenta- | tive footings which seemed to show that the recount had resulted in a tie When this result was regularly reached, the matter was still some what in an undecided state. for the lawyers were not sure as to the next step to be taken. There was the prob ability that a special election might have to be held but the law is found to make no provision for one IL was thought, too. that the matter might be decided as is done in some states. by casting lots. but the law here makes no provision for that. The law authorizes the board of supervisors to fill certain vacancies, but there is no such va cancy in the office of the county treas urer as the law has in mind
 Babbitt by virtue of the certificate fgsgsU T.-- ter the official count. Is the de facto treasurer and the probabilities are that he will remain in office. Tha, will, be settled. though, al o'clock tomor- TOW afternoon. to which hour the spec ial term adjourned.
 When the count was resumed in the morning there remained seventeer, small precincts. Miner had a lead of one vote. That was generally main tained until in the afternoon, when at one time Babbitt was one ahead. When the last precinct had been counted. it was understood that there was a lie. Then came the d,spositio;. of the disputed ballots. those which had been taken under advisement as well as some which had gone under one of the rules but which might vet be counted or rejected. The first of these consisted of a lot of twenty bal lots concerning which there had been a stipulation. They had been held over on account of abnormalIy large crosses which might be regarded as distinguishing marks They were counted. and eleven of them went to Miner and mine to Babbitt Ballots concerning which rules had been an nounced were then taken up and out of them. Rabbit gained two thus ef- fectig the tie.
 The closeness with which the count ran all through is shown in several curious circumstances. At different times when Court Stenographer Tiff fany had leisure he footed up the count. 90 far as it had gone and never found difference of more than one But the most remarkable thing was disclosed by the ballots which came under the various rules. Of the bal lots in which a mark which could not De construed to be a cross was in or near square. there were three for Bab- pitt and three for Miner: of the torn ballots. two were for Miner and none Tor Rabbit; of the ballots objected 10 on account of erasures. six were Bab- bitI ballots and six were Miner bal lots; four Miner ballots went out ol account of blots and four Babbitt bal lots were lost for the same reason Five Miner ballots were defective be- cause the voters had written in 'ves-' or no or some expression. and Bab- Ditt lost four on the same account. Each of the candidates lost four ballots because the voters had used a straight Ilne instead of a cross. Then there were the twenty ballots concerning which there was stipulation Eleven of them were for Miner and nine for Rabbit
 \ funny thing took place near the end Of the count. District Attorney Bullard for the defendant objected to a certain ballot on account of a de- feet which he believed to be fatal. and offered 10 prove it. His attention was then called to the fact that the baIlo; had already been counted for his client The court offered to rule in his favor but Mir. Bullard preferred to be ruied against.
 Thee were two ballots over which me attorneys cOntended throughout the hearing. One of them was a Mine. ballot. in which the cross was not put m the square. but below it. Judge Ainsworth insisted that it be counted but was always overruled. The other was Miner ballot in which a name had been erased but was counted over the objection of the defense.
 The chief ground on which the sec ond recount had been asked for was that the court had erred in accepting ballots in which a straight line was made to do duty for a cross. As il turned out, that would not have chang ad the result, since there were for each 1f the candidates four such ballots.
 Not as many votes were thrown out on the second recount as had been ex- pected. On the first Miner received II09 and Rabbit I707 so that the for ner lost only ten votes and the latter Dnly eight.