Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1907-02-22

that rule was adopted no matter whom
it affected; when enough was left to
leave a name like Lafayette B. Wal
dron" it was counted; when ever
enough was not left to constitute a
name, it was rejected. And the same
rule that works for one must be ap-
piled to the other. 1t may be mis-
fortune for Mr.. Brown and for Mr..
Waldron, but you must have fixed
rules. you must be governed and con-
| trolled by the law. An erasure does
| not simply mean to make a little dot
or a dash; it means an erasure, q WHIP
| ing out; and when a name still re-
mains there has been no erasure of
that name You will find that the au-
thorities are cited in the report OF your
committee on elections.
| Now. take Dexter No. Is. AS the
| ballot shows somebody started to draw
a line which was just over the title
| For Representative" 1t was drawn
up into the square of Register of
Deeds" which is above it. 1t crossed
| the dividing line between the Register
of Deeds and Representative to the
| Legislature, came back, cutting one or
| two letters in Representative" and
| resting upon the last "e'' in the name
of Lafayette B. Waldron. 1t might
have been made by an inadvertent slip
| of the pencil. Whether it was or not,
get back to my learned brothers
proposition that the intention should
not govern, because when you specu-
late on the intentions you are upon
! boundless sea without rudder and
Wit rhan
| wasn't a letter erased. as we unler
stand it in the name Of Lafayette b.
| Waldron There was only one. or at
most two obliterated in tine word Rep
| resentative.' Can you say when you
are deciding under the rules of law
that that is an erasure OF the name
of Lafayette b. Waldron? But there
| is something more. My brother says
| there is faint line drawn from that.
an extension of that line running
through the name Lafayette" and
| therefore he says it is an erasure, and
| that it shows. further, the intention of
this voter The majority of your COM
mittee have stated in their report that
| that line was not there while those
votes were being considered; no man
saw it, no man found 1t, notwithstand-
| ing that these ballots were examined
time after time in the town of Dexter,
Notwithstanding they were examined
time after time and day after day in
| the room of the committee on elections
Notwithstanding they passed under the
| crucial and critical examination of
counsel upon both sides. notwithstand-
| ing that ballot was argued by the
counsel on both sides. Until that ar
| gument closed no man living of all the
| men who had counted that ballot in
| Dexter, of all the members of the COM
| mittee, as l understand it, none of the
| counsel engaged in the case, had ever
seen, as / say, at the time of the clos
ing of the hearing before this COM
mittcc that faint line or any other kind
of line running through the name
| Lafayette" My brother asks how it
| got there. l don't know 1t is there
now. 1t was not there then; and your
| committee say SO. Gentlemen, I leave
| that ballot No. Is there. | leave the
| name without that lire that came into
| that ballot after the hearing and argu-
ments; leave it without a single let
| ter erased except some kind of a. little
| quirk down over the letter &C."
| Shouldn't it be counted? Are you not
| going to sustain the majority of this
| committee upon that ballot?
My brother argues to you a parallel
| illustration. Here was a ballot with
| the name of Winfield S. Brown put on
with a Sticker. 1t does not touch the
name of Lafayette b. Waldron except
by a hair line; it leaves every letter of
the name every word Of the name, abb
| solutely distinct and clear. 1t should
be counted. The law says that the
| sticker should be put on and over the
| name. In that ballot nothing of the
sort was done; it was not ION and
| over" The name of Mr.. Waldron was
not erased; it was left as clear and
distinct as upon any ballot there My
| brother compares it with another bal
lot, No. s. l want to call attention to
| the difference between No 6 and the
| ballot that l have described, and +
| want you to bear in mind our position
| that If the name remains so it is dis
| tinguishable as a name it is not erased
| under the law. If it does not remain
| 50 it is distingushable, it is erased.
Take this ballot, No. g. The voter
| made his cross in the Democratic col
ulIlil. ne comes down TO the Repre-
| sentative for the Legislature and he
puts on a Lafayette =. Waldron stick
| er. 1t obliterates every letter in the
| name of Winfield S. Brown except the
| letters "W-i-n-f-i-e" and part of the
| 'T'-nothing left but a fractional part
| of the Christian name of Mr.. Brown
Now, this was the rule applied by the
committee as shown by their report
| in the counting of these ballots-where
| there were two names plain and dis
tinct and a cross at the head of the
| column, the vote should not be counted
| for either man because there were two
| mems names where there should be
| only one. 1t was counted for the man
who had his sticker over the other
| name SO substantially no name was
| left.
My brother calls attention to No. 10.
| You remember his argument upon the
cross that just touched the letter Sc"
In No. 10 it oblitcrated the name of