Perth Amboy evening news. [volume] (Perth Amboy, N.J.) 1903-1959, 1919-12-04
4 MORE BALLOTS
THAN VOTERS ON
REGISTER HERE
irregular" Situation Found in
Fifth Ward Second POII-Re-
count Totals Give Voorhees,
Lead 0Vel 4eSter
Rn stnn correspondent.

BIZ staff Correspondent. rho
NEW BRUNSWICK, Dec. 81 no ne
next step in the recount OK tne -, -,
Amboy general election ballots ~
order to determine who was elected
alderman-at-large between John N.
Wester and William voorhees, VIII
he the action of Supreme Court Jus
tice James ]. Bergen in actlng on Che
ballots referred to him for decision,
The actual recount of the city bal
lots was completed yesterday AFTER
noon amid a heated argument ddflhs
which j. H. Thayer Martin, one OF
the Republican attorneys, moved that
the entire second poll of the fifth
ward be thrown out, owing to lrregu-
larities discovered by the election
board in recounting the ballots.
~ The Republicans made strong
fight to keep these votes from belng
counted while the Democrats pressed
their demands that they be counted.
1t was in this poll that voorhees, Sc
cured a majority of 100 votes over
Wester and without these votes the
election of Wester would be assured.
Alleged Irregularities
Several alleged Irregularities were
discovered in the second poll of the
fifth ward which caused the Repub-
licans to protest against these votes
being counted.
Primarily there were four more
ballots in the box than there were
names on the poll book. There were
269 ballots and 265 names on the poll
book. Following O comparison of
the poll book and the number OF
votes cast, Attorney Martin objected
to counting the four additional ball
lots, he claiming that any over the
number who actually registered
should not be counted.
The question then arose as to
which ballots were the extra four.
Attorney Martin maintained that the
last four on the string should be con-
sidered In excess These four proved
to be three Voorhees, ballots and one
blank. They were referred to the
court for decision as to whether or
not they should count
Book Not Personally Signed.
Upon examining the poll book 1t
was found that many voters had not
personally signed the poll book. In
stead the same person had written the
names of the various voters in. Line
after line was found, written by the
same hand. when, according to law
each voter should place his own sigma
ture in the book.
Attorney Martin charged that the
violated the law in doing and allowing
this to be done. This forgery of
names" as Attorney Martin termed it,
did not enable the board to check up
the voters.
The Republicans present at tho time
the vote in the second poll of the fifth
ward was taken were not backward in,
limiting that some crooked" work had
been done in the conducting of this
oil h1t Ind 6orn
gen reject the entire poll in the sec
ond district of the fifth ward was
made before the recount of the votes
was begun.
The officers serving on the election
board in the second poll of the fifth
ward where the ''mix-up" occurred
are: John Feeney, Judge; Ernest
Thomas A. Sweet, clerks.
Eleven soldier votes we're received
yesterday, six Of which contained
votes for Bugbee only, one for Ed
wards only. three voted the straight
Democratic ticket. and one the
stra ght Republican ticket.
~ Owing to the fact that no official
totals have been given out both sides
claim to have the advantage in the re-
count. The Republicans claim they
will have ten vote majority instead
of three whereas the Democrats claim
they will win by seven vote margin.
The figures compiled by the EVE
MING NEWS in the recount show
total of 2442 votes cast for voorhees,.
This, however, does not include the
131 referred ballots which the court
must decide upon. OF these 1S1 bal
lots S3 are Wester votes and 4S Voor-
lees. The three votes referred to the
court in the second poll of the fifth as
additional ballots are not included in
this total.
The recount in the second poll of
the fifth ward yesterday afternoon
gave Voorhees, IT'S and Wester 75 as
compared with 1872 and 76 in the
general election results. Nine blank
ballots were in the box and four re-
ferred, three being Voorhees, votes
and one for Wester.