Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1913-09-27
WHAT ELECTIONS MEAN
TO THE COUNTY CLERK
Work of Preparing for and Then abuatng Votes Cast Keeps
Score of Experts Busy Five Nights Following the Day OF
Baloting

The general public has no concep-
ton of the immense amount of ex-
ira work that the holding of pri7
mary or general election places on the
county clerks office. The amount OF
work involved in a primary election
is practically just as great as tnat
of a genera election.
As a matter of fact the work is al
most technically the same, except tnat
in a general election the figures Will
run larger than in a primary election.
That really makes no difference IN
the amount of work involved, as the
tabulation of the figures Is made py
tabulating machines. the only place
in the entire work that machine
can possibly figure.
In every other element of the work
human brain power Is needed, both
in the work preceding the election
and the compilation of the returns
afterward The work of the county
clerks office starts long before cleo
ton day, as that office has to pre-
pare all the stationery and supplies
needed for the 315 booths in the city
and county.
With the big ballots that are in
use these days the work Of prepar-
ing, counting and packing them alone
is a tremendous task and it speaks
volumes for the carefulness with
which County Clerk Joseph Nc
Donough and his deputy county clerk,
George l.. Mahr, and the staff did the
work this year that there was not a
single complaint from any one of the
315 districts in the county that any
part of the needed supplies. from ball
lots to pen points, were missing.
With election day over comes the
work of tabulating the returns. This
work starts almost Immediately with
the closing of the polling places on
election night, for as soon as the
clerks of the different districts have
finished their canvass they are sup
posed to hand in a copy of the re-
turns to the county clerk for his use
in preparing the official returns.
The words supposed to hand I'M
are used advisedly, as in many in
stances the election boards fail to
perform that duty and it then de-
wolves on the county clerk and his
staff to hunt up the delinquent offi-
GERS and obtain the returns. Most of
the election officers are faithful to this
duty but few that fail to hand in
their election result return sheets to
the county clerks office cause all
sorts of trouble and delay in the final
and official tabulation.
On election night the county clerk s
office is kept open all night with sew
eral clerks in attendance for the re-
ceiving of the returns from the city
and county districts. AS each dis
trict hands in its returns and the
keys to the ballot boxes the keys are
counted to see that all given out are
returned. There are twelve keys with
each set of ballot boxes.
Then the return sheet is scanned by
the clerk receiving it to learn If 1t
has been properly filied out and all
figures inserted. 1t is then filed in a
large cabinet containing a pigeon hole
for each city ward and each of the
county municipalities.
On the night following an election
the work of officially tabulating the
work starts. In this work are en-
gagged the full staff of the county
clerk, including the female employees
and about an equal number of out
siders, in the main, bank clerks or
bookkeepers who are used to making
figures.
The clerks are arranged in pairs,
one person calling while the other
copies the figures on the return sheets
from the different districts on i'm
mense sheets made up in book form.
The large sheets have been made out
in advance of election and all that
remains is to enter the vote as shown
on the return sheets.
The returns are copied in duplicate;
that is, by two sets of callers and
writer's, and, after all the missing dis
tricts have been rounded up and the
figures obtained, the work Is ready
for tabulation. Then the machines
are called into play and the results
shown in each book added up.
There are separate sets of books
for each party having a full list of
candidates, the recent primary cleo
ton necessitating four sets of books,
as follows: Republican, Democratic,
Progressive and Socialist. To further
facilitate the work and make it pos
sible to complete the official tabula-
ton within five days after election
day, the work is divided into the city
and county districts for each party;