The Brattleboro reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1907-1912, 1907-03-01
MAJORITY OR
PLURALITY? =?
Which Will Determine Next
Tuesdays Election?
STATUTES DO NOT TELL
Nothing in the Law or Constitution
Provides for the Contingency Which
Has Arisen-Use Care in Marking
q
Ballots for Town Officers.

Ballots for Town officers.
An interesting situation has been
revealed this week by the search for
some law that will decide the question
whether majority or plurality is re.
quired at town elections. There Is
nothing in the law that tells about
this. so far as Town Attorney a, f.
Schwenk has been able TO find, and he
has searched the statutes, the constitu-
tion and the Vermont reports as dili'
gently as he knows how. In fact, the
only reference to the method Of choos'
ing town officers that has been un'
carthed thus far is Section 29Si of the
Vermont statutes, II reads as follows;
TTpon written demand therefor Of 20
voters. filed in the town clerk g office
at least 10 days before the annual
meeting, the moderator, town clerk,
first constable. selectmen, road commits
sioners and school directors shall be
elected by ballot on one ticket, and a
list of names of persons voting shall
he kept by the town clerk, his deputy,
or n member of the board of civil au'
thoritv designated by him. The Per
son Having the Greatest Number OF
Votes for ANY Office Shall Be Declared
Elected to That Office.
Towns holding their elections ae'
cordinp TO the provisions of this stat
ute NAV choose their officers by plu'
ralitv vote as is shown by the last SEN
tence in the section quoted But TINS
law refers to a special form of election
and has nothing to do with the Aus
tralian ballot law under which Brattle-
boro elections take place. Because 1t
is snccifed in section 1884 that cleo
tions in that particular form shall be
decided bv plurality vote Mr.
Sehwenk infers that in all other cases
maiorities rule. and on this inference
he holds that next Tuesdays election
will have to be decided by majority
vote Act No. 3 of the laws of l9Oo,
which changes the form of ballot used
under the Australian system, says
notbing about majority or plurality
Neither does the Australian ballot law
itself. So the only rule that can be
followed is precedent, In former town
elections in Brattleboro. as well as IN
other towns the result has always
been decided by a majority vote ana
unless the board of civil authority
makes a special ruling for TUESDAY. $
town meeting the majority rule Will
prevail then. .ua;
dates for offices on one ticket, however,
II will be necessary in order to deter
mine what candidates have ma1orltlcs
70 90 through each ballot and tabulate
tbo vote for each candidate thereon.
This is the method adopted IN the case
of split ballots in state elections, ana
last fall the process took so long
time that the result was not deter,
mined until late in the evening. II
every ballot has to be tabulated Tues
dav II is not unlikely that the result
of the election will be in doubt untll
midnight. and if no one received a ma
ioritv a second ballet would have TO be
taken in the small hours of the morning
unless adjournment were taken.
An voters should examine the new
form of ballot carefully before mark
inc il. All the candidates for one OF
fee appear alphabetically under one
head and the voting is done by max,
ing a cross in the space at the Ieit Oh
each name. There are eight candloates
for selectmen but no voter must marx
crosses against more than three names
If he wishes his ballot to count
There are also eight candidates Tor
listers but only five can be voted Tor
on one ticket For auditors there are
civ candidates but only three can be
voted for. For grand jurors there are
four candidates but only two can be
voted for. For town agent there are
two candidates but only one can be
voted for. Balloting will begin at y
q ,clock. The box for town officers VIII
remain omen until O'Clock and the
box for license until O'Clock. Since
no legal nominations for the Office OF
town school director were filed, names
of candidates voted for will nave 10
be written.
Following is the form of the official
ballot:
Moderator. vote ioi oh'
Henry D. Holton,
Peoples -Citizens-Independent
Town Clerk. Vote for one
VIM. S. Newton,
" Peoples Citizens Independent
se,ectmen. Vote for Three.
w. H. Haywood. 80. -. 'lndependeht
las. F. Hooker. Citizens. ns.lndependent
Edwin H. Putnam. -. Peoples Citizens
Fred A. Richardson. ....... .Cltizens
A. w. Roel, .lndepenueht
VIM. H. Vinton. ..... Peoples Citizens
Warren L. Walker. -. Peoples -Cltizens
Hiram F. Weatherhead. ...... Citizens
overseer of Poor. Vote for One.
julius L. Stockwell
Observation-Disclosures
rirst Constable. Vote for One.
E. r. Thayer,
Peoples Independent
Second Constable. Vote for one'
Merton Micott,
Peoples acknowledgement
Collector of Taxes Vote for one'
VIM. A. Shumway,
Peoples Citizens Independent
Town Treasurer. Vote for One.
Wilford H. Bracket,
Peoples acknowledgements
Listers, Vote for Five.
John L. Barney. ....... Peoples -Cltizens
E. w. Blodgett. ....... Peoples -Cltlzens
Fl. B. Chamberlain. =. Peoples Citizens
D.. zlncs- 4 =