The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1913-09-18
NATTER OF RETURNING VOTES
TO the Office of the Secretary of the
State. Law Disregarded

State. Law Disregarded
All parts of the Bird Congressional
District of the State are sending to
the office of the secretary of State,
the votes of the special election in
accordance with Chapter 6 of the Re-
yised Statutes, 1903, which provides
in case of special election that, THE
clerk of each town, within "a hours
after the close of the polls, shall de-
post in some postolfice the returns of
the votes cast at such special election,
postpaid, directed to the secretary of
State to be transmitted by mail. The
Governor and Council shall meet
seven days after such election, and
open and canvass such returns, and
declare the result. They shall receive
certified copies of the record of any
town If the return from such town is
lost, or is not received by the secre
tary of State. The Governor shall
Immediately issue a certificate of cleo
ton to the person thus declared to
have received plurality vote" II is
probable that these votes will be open
ed by the Governor and Council, next
Tuesday. and the official returns then
given out
curious feature in the return of
these ballots is that, generally speak
ing those coming from the most re-
mote places were among the very first
to come in at the office. Ballots
from the town of Vanceboro, for in
stance, ia miles beyond Bangor, ar
rived at a very early hour. Wash
ington county, as a whole, returned
the votes very promptly.
In several cases, however the sec
rotary of State has found evidence of
a curious disregard of the law. The
ballot clerxs 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 a matter of
fact, the ballots have been returned in
bundles of every conceivable shape,
many of them with no signatures or
revelation as to the contents, bearing
only the address, THE Secretary of
State" The certificates which should
be wrapped around the bundles keep.
ing them intact, have in many in
tances, been left off. And this natur
ally complexities matters at the seere-
tary's office, for whereas the packages
should not be opened except by the
Governor and Council, certain ones Of
curious shapes and without signature.
have had to be opened in order that
the nature of their a|ents 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 un
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 any
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
l2O votes are polled and the porua-
ton is 334 reads as follows: THE
selectmen of the town forgot about
the election. No warrants were post
ed and no election was held"
Another letter received at the office
OF the secretary of State reads: mo
election was held and | cannot send
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 How
ever, 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:
Peters, 0; Pattangall, 80; Lawrence, l.