Daily Kennebec journal., 1913-09-04
State Board Of HeaIih's New
Exhibit al Fair a Success.
Advisory Board In the Matter Of Pa.
roles VIII Hold First Meeting.
STATE HOUSE CALENDAR.
Regular Meeting Of Governor and
Council, Thursday, Sept. 18, 1918, 10
M

The secretary OF state and his
corps of assistants are, just now, haV-
ing their troubles, and they are not
all easy obstacles to overcome at that.
just at present the ballot clerk is
probably bemoaning the fact that he
tackled the job, for having shipped
all his ballots to the different select
men of the different towns, and the
assessors of the plantations he is now
being besieged, as each mail arrives.
with questions about. How to do this
and how to do that"
Perhaps the one which seems to
him the most puzzing is letter ask
ing advice, which was received, We'd
nesday morning. In fact there were
two letters. one from each of two
towns. The letters were from the
town clerks of the towns, and re-
Guested that they be informed how
they should. proceed as they could
not possibly hold an election on the
date mentioned, Monday, Sept. s.
The ballot clerk was at loss how
To answer this question. for the law
requires that the warrants for the
election be posted seven days before
the said election, at the least. and
that would necessitate the posting OF
the said warrants, last Monday.
The ballot clerk could not quite see
his way clear To give advice in this
case, as the resolves passed by the
last Legislature, setting the date OF
election fatty state that the alder
men OF cities, the selectmen of towns.
and the assessors of the several plan
tations in this State are hereby en-
powered and directed to notify the
inhabitants of their respective cities.
towns and plantations in the manner
prescribed by law to vote on the Sec
ond Monday in September in the year
nineteen hundred and thirteen upon
amendment proposed in the foregoing
resolutions" The question in one
case is: shall the Constitution be
amended as proposed by resolution
of the Legislature providing for the
classification of property for the pur-
poses of taxation" And the other is
shall the Constitution be amended
as proposed by a resolution of the
Legislature permitting amendments
to the constitution to be voted upon
at regular elections?
These two questions requiring d
simple Yes or No vote and as this OF
these towns had passed the. time limit
in which they may post warrants
calling the election, the matter was
referred to the secretary of State,
who in turn referred it to the attor-
ney general, and an opinion will be
Forthcoming within short time.
Another mix-up that has been
called to the attention of the State
department. is the disorganization of
what was Plantation in Hancock
county, and now the inhabitants of
this place wish to know where they
may cast their vote. In certain cases
the law provides that Inhabitants of
such a town, or disorganized COM
munity, may vote at the nearest or.
ganized polling places. But, in this
case. there are some circumstances
which render this law of no use in the
matter. This will also be turned
over to the attorney general for his
decision.
And still another matter that comes
to the attention of the State depart
ment is the apparent ignorance on the
part of the town authorities as to who
has the authority for the posting of
the warrants In one C3se the select
men of certain town wrote that
they could not post The warrants, as
the town clerk had received the ma
terial and refused to give it up as he
claimed it was his property,
Although the ballots and such cleo
ton documents are sent to the town
clerks, the selectmen of "A town are
supposed to draw up the warrant call
ing for the election, ana the town
clerk has nothing whatever to do in
the matter, save to act in his official
capacity before and after the cleo
ton.
These last matters could easily be
Strengthened out by a little careful
study into the laws of Maine, covering
such matters, and perhaps would
save lots of time, wasted by inquiries
at the Department of State.