Evening journal., 1909-06-08
FILING BASIS
FOR CONTESTS
Law Gives Election Judges
Right to Name the
Clerks
DEMO Gratis TOOK
ANOTHER VIEW

That the Democrats are seizing at
straws and trying to bolster up
grounds for a contest and unseat
Councilman Walter Rash, Republican,
of the Second ward. and at the same
time count out Howard D. Ross. who
was elected City Treasurer, is evil
dent from the fimsy pretexts on which
It is reported that the contest is to be
made of the vote cast in the Fourth
district of the Second ward on Satur-
day last. That district, which is made
up mostly of Democratic voters. gave
more than 200 Republican majority.
Councilman Rash has 69 majority. and
City Treasurer Ross mas % majority.
BY throwing out the vote of the dis
trict, the Democrats would seat B. b.
Allen as Councilman and count in DR..
c. NJ Almond as city treasurer Tile
contest will be brought before the new
Council, in which the Democrats will
have enough votes to do as they
please.
The alleged ground for making the
contest viii be that the Democratic
Committee was not permitted to in
stall the clerk for the Democratic
judge in the polling place. AS a mat
ter of fact, the law gives the judge
The right to name his clerk, and that
is what w. c. Guenther. the Demo-
cratic Judge, did. He named a colored
man as his clerk. The Democratic
organization wanted a white man
named. Frank Quinn, as clerk, but
Guenther would not consent to that,
and insisted on naming his own clerk.
The law on the subject, passed June
/. 1898, makes this specific statement
in section 13:
Each of the said judges. after be-
ing duly qualified. shall choose one
clerk Of the election. to whom the in
spector or other officer authorized by
law to hold the election. or one OF the
judges. shall administer an oath or
affirmation"
But the Democrats, eager with a
desire to get the city treasurership and
two-thirds of Council so they would
be in position to oust any Republi-
can commissioner who might incur
their partisan displeasure, are going
along on the presumption that the
Democratic Committee had the nam
ing OF the clerk. and that the Demo
cratic Judge in the polling place had
nothing to do with It.
Call on Attorney General.
They even called on Attorney Gen.
eraI Andrew c. Gray. a Democrat, &
help them in trying to convince
Guenther and the other election Of
ficers in the Fourth district Of the
rooord ward that they should allow
the Democratic committee to install
c.erk Attorney General Gray
read some law on the subject to the
election officers. but Guenther, tho
Democratic judge, named his owr
clerk, a colored man.
The action of Attorney Gray in going
10 the Second ward polling place, as
well as the action of Judge Edwin r
Cochran of the City Court in taking
a position at the polling place at Third
and Orange streets for several hours
has caused much comment. and many
Republicans are indignant that sucf
tactics should have been resorted TO-
Law Regarding Clerks.
There seems to be two different
points of view regarding the naming
of election clerks in the Fourth dis
trict of the Second ward. AS th'
story is told Attorney General era.
and the Democratic City COMMITTEES
b. based their contention on the thir'
section of the ''act to further provide
for the secrecy and purity of the bal
lot" passed at Dover on May 20, 1897
That section reads:
Continued on Second Page.