Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-11-08
G,[suIn5''1 ISsnine Y<l5s<dsy tss5y 18O5O
FRIDAY. NOVEMBER s, 1918
A Law That Should be Changed.

Law mat SnOuIu De I nanRtu-
1t may be startling statement TO
MANY of our readers, but We venture the
assertion that in the counting of the
ballots at the close Of voting on Tuesday
last in this state. ninc-tenths of the cleo
tion boards probably all OF them, de-
lberately violated the PLAN letter and
mandate Of the law in performing their
duty of counting the ballots and ascer-
tanning the results
In support Of this naturally surprising
contention We VIII first quote the law
that tells how the votes shall hc counted
1t is contained in 1875 See. -. Revised
Code and is as folows When tie
election shall hc closed the Inspector Or
other officer authorized hy law ~ hold
the election. ard judges shall openly
and publicly rnloek he boN containing
the ballots. and shall remove the iii 50
far that the envelopes containing The
ballots can he taken separately from tho
box. one Of the judges shall keep II hlA
custody the said los. while another shall
publicly. III the presence Of the other
Judges and such of the electors as shall
think proper 70 hc present take the en-
velopes containing the ballots enc BY
one, from the bo>. remove the ballot
from the envelope and read ard count
the same When : ballot shall
be read and counted, il shall he returned
to the envelope, and put into the other
box This is what the law says
The law, il Will be seen. provides for
counting of the vote. ballot by ballot.
BY taking one at a time from the box
and reading the names. from top to bot
tom, the clerks tallying as the count pro-
gresses: But all men who have served as
election officers, or who have been spec
tators OF the counting Of ballots, know
that to observe this requirement oi the
law would take up great deal q time
4 test viii show that on an average il
would require one minute for calling of
and talylng each ballot, occasionally
less, but IN all probability. more Now,
take an election district where GOO votes
were east, and count Of tire ballots as
specifically required by tic letter ot the
law would take ten hours MI there are
election districts in The >.ate where the
total poll is far III excess ii ,lA hundred
The election officers very readily over
come tnis situation by taknG the matter
into their own hands :rd adopting
short method of counting the votes and
aseertalnIng the result Instead Of tax
ing up the envelopes separately, removing
the ballot ard calling II of to the clerks
to be tailed, and returning the ballot to
the envelope, they open al the envelopes
from the start, taking the ballots there
from, and arranging them III piles
straight Democratic ballots straight Re
publican ballots, and split ballots Then
the,- count the Straight party ballots
ana the clerks set down 80 MANY votes
to the candidates named Oh these party
ballots Next. the split tickets are called
of, and thcvotcs they express credited to
the respective recipients Thus the re-
suit of the poll is ascertained Is correctly
as though the tedious process of separate
ballot counting prescribed by the law
had been followed, and At great saving
OF time Also, it may be said at great
saving OF irritation on the part Of the
eager ;asScmblages OF citizens VINO are
interested in ascertaining the results Of
the voting.
But this plain and practical procedure,
we submit, i positive violation Of the
law. The statute says explicitly that
envelopes containing the ballots shall
be opened, the ballots taken out, one at
q time, counted, and returned TO the
envelope This would mean that the
ballot east by voter should be returned
in the exact envelope in which he enclosed
it. But this requirement is not followed
II the regulation practice Tie ballots
are taken out and counted, and while
they are returned to the envelopes, there
is not the slightest assurance that Mr.
A. S ballot is returned 10 the envelope |
that Mr. A. used when ne marked his |
choice and folded his ticket into the /
envelope OF course, this makes no diff I
ference in the actual state Of the vote, but /
it is plain violation of the law
There is another requirement Of the |
law that is positive nuisance, an an
noyance and q restriction and that
should be done away with And that is
the requirement that the clerks, in ia -
ing the votes as called off from the ballots
by the inspectors, shall make dots ID the
squares set apart on the tally sheet for
the purpose, five rows Of dots in each
square SO that each square shall stand
for twenty-five votes While it will be
admitted that this procedure is complete
as to setting forth the state Of the vote,
we positively advance the contention that