The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-10-31

Island were in conference with Score
tary Mott-Smith for two hours yester.
day afternoon in regard to their duties
in connection with the election.
1t was a regular session of a school
for Inspectors of Election. There was
a very good attendance of election of
fcials. Secretary Mott-Smith took the
card of instructions which has been
prepared for the inspectors, and with
that as sort of syllabus for his address
went very fully into the duties and
powers of election inspectors.
He said that the purpose of the cleo
tion law was to secure fair and I'M
| trammeled expression of the electors
| choice of officials to be elected. The
duties of the election inspectors were
therefore, primarily, to aid in carrying
out that purpose. They were therefore
not there to put stumbling blocks in
the way of voters or to make it harder
for voters to express their preferences
by their ballots, but in all ways within
the law to aid the voters. Bearing
this in mind they were not to seek
ways to thwart the purpose of the law
or the expression of preference by the
voters by looking for technicalities or
creating difficulties. "You don It have
to look under every chip for the bug,
brn he ,
said Mott-Srnith.
With ballot boxes, ballots from the
last election as samples, and the ma
terial supplied to each voting place be-
fore him, Mott Smith described the nat
ural, easy, practical way of conduct
ing the election from the time the in
spector received his supplies until the
returns were finally made up and certi-
fed to and returned to the Secretary's
office as soon after the polls were clos
ed as possible:
Taking up the matter of challenges |
he said that the Supreme Court in
Brown VS.. Iaukea had said that there |
a challenge of voter. This was said |
by the court particularly in relation to
challenges as to the qualification of a
voter. The fact of registration settled
that question. If the voter was regis.
tered his qualifications could not be in
quired into before the election officers
The only things that could be inquired
into were the identity of the voter with
che person he represented himself to be,
and whether or not the voter was offer
ing to vote in the right precinct.
W. w. Chamberlain at this point said
that he had discovered a number of
errors in the printed lists of registered
voters. For instanced Samuel F Chill
the chairman of the Board
IF Registration, was put down IS in the
Fifth Precinct of the Fourth District,
when as matter of fact he was in the
Fourth Precinct.
Mr.. MOtt-Smith said that a great
many of these errors would be correct
III by luc DOdEU USIOEc cieCblOua udy,
and those that were not corrected be- ;
fore then could be corrected on cleo
ion day. Mere typographical errors
n the spelling of names on the regis
ration lists, which did not obscure the !;
IDENTIFY of the voter, should not be re-
yarded. For instance, there was a ty-
error in the spelling of
Albion F. Clark, one of the inspectors :
# election in his own precinct. There
.ould be no question but that the
lame there was intended for Albion {
e. Clark, and no question should be ]
aised about it.
The inspectors of election have full
,ower to preserve order at the polling
,laees and to so conduct the voting
IS to carry out the intent of the law.
But here, as everywhere, the purpose
vas to enable the election to be car .
led on in an orderly, fair and expe-
litiOus way and not for. the mere dis
LAY of power.
In the same way, in counting the I
,allots there was abundant power and
express requirement that ballots show
ng evidence of an intention to com. !,
nit fraud by containing marks of
Identification or otherwise should be ]
elected. But where there was no evil