The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1919-03-25
The School Election

On Tuesday evening there was a
large number of citizens at the court
house on hand to cast their ballots for
members of the Board of Education of
this township. 1t had been thought
that the meeting would be an ordinary
affair as there had not been much in
terest apparently shown, but the re-
suit disclosed the fact that quiet work
had been done and the voters who
were present had their ballots prepared
and their work all cut out in advance.
Richard. j. B. Slack was the chairman
and William II, Mason acted as secre-
tary. His report, as district clerk,
took about fifteen minutes to read and
then the voting began. Edward Y.
Gunsche and Richard s. Folwell were
chosen tellers. The polls were kept
open an hour, and at the end of the
counting the following result was
given: For one year, Mary Pease AL
colt, 140; Joseph w. Colkitt,. 252. For
three years, Christian J. Krayer, IS;
Charles LaTour, 1858; Clarence HI. Pol
hemus, 318; Henry c. Shinn, 60; Will
liam C. Wetherill, 1926. The names
are given here as they appeared on the
ticket, in alphabetical form. Mr.. Col
kilt was declared elected for the unex-
pired term and Messrs. LaTour, Polhe-
mus and Wetherill were the choice for
the full term of three years.
Four hundred and sixteen votes were
cast, and many thought this was the
record breaker, but such was not the
case. There have been elections at
which very few ballots were cast, at
one time IA being the number. AS it
required a chairman, secretary and
four tsllers, six in all, it can easily be
figured who cast the votes, as nearly
every one of the nine members of the
board were on hand. The large meet
ings have been as follows: 1900, 319;
1901, 1862; 1907, BAT; 1909, 156; 1910, 43S;
1913, 667-this was the record breaker
1914, Ats; 1916, 29s; 1917; 1913; 1918, 1926.
With the possible disappointment
that may come to any defeated candi-
dates and their friends, the result is
accepted by the people of the township
as satisfactory. The gentlemen who
have shown willingness to serve in
position which--and we speak know
ingly-is thankless one, are business
men, and are perfectly qualified to fill
the office entrusted to them.
There is one matter that has caused
some criticism and it has been referred
to before. 1t is the way in which the
law requiring polls to be kept open an
hour is so strictly observed. The stat
ute says "the polls must remain open
at least one hour" but every chair
Gnan seems to think that this means
',only one hour" 1t has been sug-
gested before that the polls should be
opened early, say at five or six o'clock,
and be kept open long enough for all
to have chance to vote. There were
at least fifty people who did not get q
| chance to cast a ballot on Tuesday
evening because of the strict obser.
vance of the one hour. Their votes
might not have made any difference
beyond increasing the number cas-
and the maiorities, but they should
have been given the privilege Of exer
cising their right to vote. Uuder thu
present system OF voting only for mem
bers of Boards of Educa ton at the an
nual meeting in March it would no
cost very much to pay tellers an'
judges to sit for three or four hours
and it would be an expenditure tina
would not be Enthusiastically no
as much as the present system is.