Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-11-13
GUST DR.. HENKEL AS
SECRETARY OF BOARD
Election Supervisors Act at Special
Meeting Last Night.
WOULD NOT SIGN RETURNS
So Majority Members Decided Upon
Parliamentary Procedure To
Relieve a Tangle.

Anne Arundel County's latest, of
multitude of tangles that have marked
elections in the county in years gone
by, was enacted last night when
Messrs. William H. Rullman and
William ~ Crisp, the Democratic
members of the Board of Election
Supervisors for the county, got to-
| gether at a special meeting at the
Court House and ousted DR. Charles
B. Henkel, the Republican member.
from his position as Secretary of that
body.
1t all came about through the per-
| sistent refusal of DR.. Henkel to affix
! his signature to the returns as can
vassed officially by the Board on last
| Thursday and Friday. 1t was the
| third time that the Supervisors had
met for this purpose. and last nights
| special meeting was arranged for as
the simplest method of getting out of
a bad tangle. Therefore, Mr. Rull-
man, who is President of the Board,
and Mr.. Crisp got together and by
| their votes it was decided to displace
DR.. Henkel as Secretary, and Mr.
Crisp was named in his stead
| The matter had been the subject of
considerable stir about the Court
House for the last several days. The
Election Supervisors met last Thurs
| day, as required by the law, and
completed the work in connection
with the tabulation of the vote, and
they met again on Friday, to complete
the totals and sign the returns and de-
| liver them to the Clerk of the Cir
cult Court as required by the pro-
visions of the election laws. But DR..
Henkel remained firm in his stand.
He had previously announced his in
tention not to sign them on the
ground that the papers as returned by
the election officials in certain of the
precincts were in irregular form and
should not therefore be counted along
with the others that were in due
form. The tabulation of the figures
was allowed to proceed, however, al
though Dr. Henkel entered his pro-
test in each instance where the al
legged irregularity was shown.
With this state of affairs existing,
the Board was in a deadlock, and as
DR.. Henkel, in his capacity as Secre-
tary of the Board, had custody of the
keys to the Office as we'll as the safe,
and nothing whatever could be done
in the way of having the returns form
ally recorded, the move of last night
was engineered. For a time there
was some talk of forcing an entrance
to the office of the Election Board, bu:
the more parliamentary procedure of
declaring the position of Secretary
vacant, was decided upon as tn eeasi-
est way of getting out of a bad situa-
ton So with the. naming of Mr..
Crisp to the secretarial position the
| signing of the returns by Chairman
Rullman and himself proceeded, and
the official canvass was subsequently
received by Chief Deputy Clerk of
the Circuit Court William N. Wood
ward, acting in behalf of DR.. George
Wells, the clerk.
The action taken last night was
necessitated by the fact that Section
| % VI lne clSCtlOu law plOfAuCS bh0e
the official returns shall be signed
not by a majority of the members oi
the Board but by the President and
Secretary, and DR.. Henkel was ap-
parently determined to adhere OF the
stand he had taken.
DR.. Henkel takes strong exception
to the action of his colleagues of the
Election Board Discussing the mat
ter today, he said he had never before
heard of such procedure and he add
ed that such action is illegal. He SAID
that throughout his service as mem
ber of the Board he has endeavored tC
act in strict conformity with the pro
visions of the election laws. and thai
he did so in the present instance. HC
said that although the return sheet:
we're only signed by President Rull
man, he delivered the papers to the
Clerk of the Circuit Court as required
despite the absence of the signature
Of the Secretary, as required by thu
law. Furthermore, he contends tina
the Democratic members of the Boart
7 were without authority in holding thu
meeting and conducting such pro
ceedings as they did last night