The Alaska daily empire., 1917-03-21

"Only such papers as the statute
 requires may be regarded as elec-
 further and make statements on
 their own responsibility such statc-
 ments should be regarded"
 d5 Cyc. 37G)
 xfancoas TSs hSq SSdoSca5 se5 S%ss %ss P&SSr PrSS
 erly exiudcd as the judges of clec-
 ton had no right to make such
 statements. if not being one Of
 their prescribed dutIcs."
 smith V Lawrence 49 N' w.
 No other certificate of the officers Of election than that provided by should be dlsregarded.
 Where certain kind of return
 is required to be made, and the
 manner of making it is provided for
 and the statute Is silent beyong that,
 then the return required to be
 made is the only return which the
 Hughes V. Parker. G5 P. R. 27l.
 lt is obvious then that the receipt Of tho telegram cannot change the situation. The situation is exactly the same as 1t was when tho Return was received with non-offIclal ballots and no certificate Of judges as to why they were used. Tho Return from then, are substantially in the same category as those from ChoSgiung. Nushagak and Bonniflcid. Dccring and Utica total Wickersham, %, Sulzer lU.
 Vault
 As to the precinct Of Vault. tho allegation Of the petition is that "no certificate of the result of the election i'm said precinct specifying the num- Der of votes cast for each candidate accompanied or was included in said returns" It is admitted in the an- swcr of the Canvassing Board that the judges did not sign any such certifi- cate. but it is further alleged that "thc Canvassing Board received from the Clerk of the United states Dis trict Court for the Four Judicial Di- vision in which said precinct Is To- catcd, the certificate Of Clerk to elec- ton Returns, bearing the names Of the election judges for said voting pre- cInct and duly certified by the Clerk copy of the original on file in his office"
 The statute provides that the judges Of each election precinct shall be three that "thc judges constitute the clcc- ton board" 0. c. these judges or n majority Of them) shall make the re- turn under their hands and seals In duplicate. all except ballots: that one duplicate of their certificate and the register of voters shall be sent 10 the Clerk Of the Court (under their hands and scals) and that tho other duplicate and all ballots shall be sent 10 the Canvasslng Board; that the Canvassing Board shall canvass what is sent to them, but that in case no such return is received by them, they are to canvass the certificate of elee- ton which the election board sent t0 the Clerk of the Court under their hands and Scals.) It will be seen that the said two members Of the Canvass lng Board say in substance that they received no returns from the election boo avsI a.VNH fl n Tan n titled copy of some certificate made by the Clerk of the election. If they did. then what they canvasscd was not prop crly authenticated. It is not the clerk tlon-it is the election board; cOnse- auently the certificate of the clerk Of the election to the Clerk of the Court is not the certificate required by law.
 "Thc return must be authenuI catcd by the official certificate and signature Of the election board, and according tO the weight of author- ity It is essential to" thG validity or
 the returns that it bear the sigma
 lures of a majority at least Of the
 officers who conducted the elcc-
 IS Cyc. s76. 4 and cases from
 Illinois. Maine. Massachusetts,
 Oregon. Texas. cited in note 47.
 especially simon V. Durham, 10
 Ore. 52 the purpOrt of which is
 expressed in the syllabus. as fol
 lows: ELECTION RETURNS
 C.NNVASSING BOARDS. A board
 Of canvasscrs. in the exercise of
 ministerial functions only. have
 no power. in making their can-
 vass. to consider as election re-
 turns any paper not duly au-
 thontIcated in the mode provided
 THENTICATED PAPERS CAN
 NOT BE CONSIDERED. An
 attempted canvass. in which the
 result declared is based upon
 papers not thus authenticated,
 may be treated as q nullity by
 the party injured. and unless
 the powers of the board have
 otherwise terminated. he is en-
 titled to the writ Of mandamus
 to compel them to reconvcnc
 and make n legitimate canvass
 of the proper returns"
 By statute. in some Jurisdictions IL is made the duty of the cnnvasscrS to be signed by the proper parties Q5 Cyc, 379-lW but we have no such statute.
 The returns from Vault. then. not being authenticated by the proper oIh- ccrs. cannot be cnnvasscd. Vault to- tals Wickcrsham 8. Sulzcr 2.
 As to the precinct of Nizina - Tho allegation in the petition Is that no official ballot was used at NiZina. and that tho, return contained no certiii- cate explaining the facts which pre-. vented the use Of the official ballot" The truth of this allegation Is not denied in the answer of Mcssrs. strong and Davidson. of the Canvasslng Board to the alternative writ of mandamus. Under the strict rules of pleading there fore the allegation would be taken aS admitted The said answer. however. does not state that ''so far as the Canvassing Board could determine tho slftaf -lRN lNn nE the returns was that one of the thr"" election judges had sworn the other two but there was nothing to shc" that he had himself been sworn. ai- though he had signed the oath form with the other two judges"
 If the allegation in the petition K true. then NiZina is in the same cate gOry as Choggiung, Nushagak and Bon- nlfeld: if the allegation in the answer is true. then I am of the opinion that to the essence of things. but only to their form. and hence Is directory on- ly.
 "Thc board could not reject the returns if n majority of, the judges were sworn md signed"
 Tanner V. Dccn. S3 s. F. S32.
 Whichever is taken as true. it could not affect the ruling on this demurrer, for Nizina totals only Wickcrsham z. Sulzcr 5.
 To rccapitulate then. the CanvlssinT Board must not count the returns from Choggung. Nushagak, Bonnificld. Utica, Dccring or Vault. These pre- cincts total Wickcrsham 69. SulZer le. It is suggested by Mir. Rustgard that turns from all the precincts in Alosltn 1t might appear that there were de- fccts in the returns from other pre- cincts. sufficient in gravity, and number