Weekly journal-miner., 1916-11-29
GOVERNING CONTESTS IS
 VERY VAGUE
ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO TELL JUST HOW TO PROCEED UNDER THE ARIZONA STATUTES.

(From Wednesdays Daily)
 If the official count being made
 confirms the unofficial returns and
 shows the election of Thomas E.
 Campbell as governor, 1t is re-
 ported that Governor Hunt will
 start a contest and attempt to
 hold the office he now occupies at
 least during the coming session
 of the legislature, despite the will
 of the people.
 That Governor Hunt cannot
 hope to upset the returns is cer-
 tain from the fact that if recounts
 are secured in every county of the
 State, Tom Campbell is sure to
 gain from 800 to 1000 votes and
 perhaps more for the reason that
 in nearly every county many bal
 lots were thrown out because the
 elector had voted the straight
 Democratic ticket and placed a
 vote opposite the name of Tom
 Campbell.
 Many States provide by law that such vote shall be counted. The Arizona statute is silent on the sub feet, but Arizona courts have held that such a vote, showing as 1t does the plain intention of the voter, should be counted.
 Counsel Retained.
 That the Republican State central victory slip from their grasp is evil denced by the fact that they have ems ployed some of the best attorneys in the State to conduct the fight to seat Campbell if Hunt files contest, and by the fact that both before and after election they had Thiel detectives in many precincts of the State, investi- 1 gating illegal registration, illegal vot- ing and illegal counting of returns. The reports of these detectives, in the hands of Chairman Maddock of the State central committee. are said to show many gross irregularities.
 The statutes on the subject of can | wasting the returns are chaotic. The law provides for the convass Of the returns by county boards of su- pervisors, but the law providing for the certifying of an abstract of the returns by the clerk of the board of supervisors to the secretary of the territory, who should compile the same and certify the result to the governor, whose duty it was made to declare the result of the election, was dropped from the 1913 revised statute because it referred to the election of a delegate to congress, and there is no provision in the 1913 statute for State canvass.
 The question is where will Tom
 Statutes Silent.
 Campbell get his certificate of cleo ton, for Hunt, as governor, refuses to declare him elected and the secre- tary of State refuses to issue him certificate. It is believed that if he secured certificates from each clerk ot the boards of supervisors, showing the result, and compilation of the result shows his election and he takes the oath, the courts would sustain him in the position. The statutes say that any elector may contest the result of an election within 20 days after the completion of the canvass and the declaration of result by the State canvassing board, { but no provision is made for State canvassing board. It is believed. ( therefore, that if Hunt wants to get I into court he will have to file his con ( test within 20 days after the comple- ton of the canvass in the last county s to finish the canvass. . This opens up another question. If Hunt files his contest in Maricopa county, will that open up the whole question and allow his opponent to recount the votes in other counties? If Hunt only alleges irregularity in certain precincts in Maricopa county, C has Campbell right to secure re- a count in other precincts not contest d cd by Hunt? It is believed that Camp f bell could get recount in all of the I precincts of the county where the s action is filed, but it is doubtful s whether the court would have juris- t diction to order recount in another f county. C
 Jurisdiction of Court. f. If Campbell cannot get a recount in Il other counties on an action filed by Hunt in Maricopa county it would be n necessary for him to anticipate the N Hunt complaint in Maricopa county a and have some elector file an action W in the other counties and he could not b contest his election. If Hunt on the D