Arizona republican., 1917-04-23
The Two Phases of the Contest


All will sympathze with the wish of Judge STAN
ford to conclude the governorshp which has
dragged its weary length through five months
Stunning Protean shapes 1t understood in the
beginning that the only thing to be determined
whether more had been cast for Governor
Campbell for former Governor Hunt. The latter
defeated by about 80 votes in total vote of more
than $4,000 warranted in asking for a recount
determine whether which might wipe
reverse that slender majority had been made 1t is
said that the former governor declared then that he
wanted take advantage of any technically
defeat the expressed win of the of
cinet. It was contended that fraud had contrib
uted to the majority against the former governor.
In the beginning the principle was laid down that
the will of the when it could be determined by
his ballot should be respected. The strict prescrp-
tions of the law were not be rigidly insisted upon
except where by departure from them one candi-
date the other had been injured. The will of the
be regarded paramount 1t has
generally been regarded in election in
the past
Douglas Precinct No l the first contested
precinct There it shown there had a
wholesale disregard of the precautions the law
throws about the ballot. There could be doubt
that this disregard had resulted in disadvantage
of the candidates. The evidence showed that
the circumstapces during the voting nimical
to Governor Campbell and the ballots themselves
showed that least fortyseven ballots for him
had been awkwardly changed make it appear
that they had been Governor Hunt. A rot
tener criminal situation exposed in
election contest. The of the precinct was
thrown out but only half the injury Governor Camp
bell had suffered removed.
At this point the character of the contest
changed The attorneys Governor Hunt insisted
that the principle that the will of the should
be paramount, should be abandoned. Snowflake pre-
cinct attacked 1t not alleged that any fraud
had been committed there and no proof was offered
of consummated attempted fraud 1t only
wildly surmsed that of the voters might have
been influenced; charged that the violation
of the strict laws regulating election procedure oppor
tunity for the exercise of such influence pre-
sented 1t did matter that the community of
Snowflake is far above the average community in
morals; that the practices there had been frank
to preclude the suspicion that fraud had been
contemplated.
Thus another entirely phase of the contest
presented 1t assumed that however moral
community may be- it be permitted to en-
in practices which may not be employed in
immoral, corrupt community. If the door had been
opened to fraud in Snowflake though fraud did
enter or did not Turk in that vicinity. the of
Snowflake must be rejected The purpose of the law
is to keep the door closed against fraud
The investigation thereupon ceased to be to de-
termine whether more qualified voters had desired
the election of Governor Hunt than had desired the
election of Governor Campbell The be-
tween them had ended with the rejection Douglas
precinct No. l. They could be affected only incden-
tally by the disclosures the new phase of the in
vestgatOn the failure of certain precincts observe
rigidly the election aws-a failure to keep the door
closed against possible fraud Only two precincts
have far been investigated under this head Snow
flake and Bisbee No. /. There some half dozen
others where it is alleged the election
recklessly violated, where all day on November Z
the door through which fraud might have been ad-
mtted was kept unlocked and swinging There are
only six days for the investigation these and other
precincts. Can the election laws be indicated in six
days? This seems to be a time consuming task
than the creation of the universe. Are snowflake
and Bisbee No. 1 alone both of them to be
made scapegoats objects vicarious punishment?