Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-09-12
Matter Of Reiurningvoiest
Sec. Of States Office,
Disregard for Law Is Manifest
In Mailing The Ballots.
New corporations..0ther Nomlna
lions BIZ Governor haines.
STATE HOUSE CALENDAR.
Regular Meeting of Governor and
Council, Thursday, Sept. 10, 1918, 10
A. M.

~ W.
All parts of the Bird Congressional
District of the State are sending to
the office of the secretary Of
State. the votes of the specia,
election in accordance with Ghap-
ter 6 of the Revised Statutes,
1903. which provides in case of spe-
cial election that, The clerk of each
town, within a hours after the close
Of the polls. shall deposit in some
postoffice the returns of the votes
cast at such special election, postpaid
directed to the secretary of State II
be transmitted by mail. The Governor
and Council shall meet seven days at
| ter such election. and open and can
vass such returns, and declare the re-
suit. They shall receive certified
copies of the record of any town if
he return from such town is lost, or
Is not received by the secretary of
State. The Governor Shall immedi-
ately issue a certificate of election t.
the person thus declared To have re-
ceived a plurality vote" 1t is prob
able that these votes will be opened
by the Governor and Council. next
l Il utSddN, ana the OIIlCidl IttuI lis lItl
given out
A curious feature in the return of
these ballots is that, generally speak
ing. those coming from the most re
mote places We're among the very
| first To come in at the office. Bal
| lots from the town of Vanceboro, for
| instance. ia miles beyond Bangor,
arrived at very early hour. Wash
| ington county, as Il whole. returned
| he votes very promptly.
in several cases. however. the Sec
| rotary of State has found evidence OF
| a curious disregard of the law The
ballot clerks are instructed to return
| the ballots sealed in envelopes pre-
| pared. and forward them TO the State
| House. They are. also, warned not
to omit the name of the city and
| county from which they are sent. as
well as the signatures of the aldermen
and the city clerk. As matter OF
fact, the ballots have been returned in
bundles of every conceivable shape
many of them with no signatures O.
revelation as To the contents, bearing
only the address, The Secretary ol
State" The certificates which should
| be wrapped around the bundles
keeping them intact, have in many in
I stances. been left off. And this
naturally complexities matters at the
| secretary's office, for whereas the
! packages should not ne opened except
| by the Governor and Council, certain
| ones of curious shapes and withou:
signature. have had Ia be opened in
order that the nature of their con :
tents might be known.
The secretary Of State has found
that the laws in regard to the holding
of special elections were not fulfilled
by certain town officials. one town
did not post the election warrant I'M
til Sept. 3-the law reading that war
| rants shall be posted seven days be-
| fore the election. Another town did
not post any warrant or have anv
| meeting. At another place, neither
ballot clerks nor voters showed up on
| election day. This same spirit with
regard to elections received from one
of the officials in a small town, where
| l20 votes are polled and the popula-
| ton is 334 reads as follows The
| seleetmen of the town forget about
| the election. No warrants were
posted and no election was held"
Another letter received at the Office
of the secretary of State reads: ma
election was held and / cannot seni
any returns"
OF course, these towns are not large
and the vote generally runs light, but
at the secretary of States office,
where every ballot must, be accounted
for, such information does not please
the officials or facilitate their work.
However, at the present time all but
seven towns have been heard from,
and these are very small.
Returns from Long Island Planta-
ton came in, Thursday morning, at
the office of the secretary of State. In
this place the total vote polled was but
81 and was distributed as follows: Pc
ters, o; Pattangall, 80; Lawrence, /.