Arizona republican., 1920-10-30
FIND ERASURES
 OF VOTES CAST
 FUR WHEELER


 Reveals That Vote for
 Secretary of States Fad
 Been Changed on Som |
 Ballots
 Erasures of votes cast for Charles DeSales Wheeler for the Democratic nomination for secretary of state on 25 ballots cast in Yavapai county in the primary election were discovered yesterday in the inspection of the ball lots, according to the inspectors. The ballots had been remarked, they said. a majority of the votes going to Harry S. Ross, the Democratic nominee, and the rest to Mrs. Nellie Hayward, also candidate for the office.
 The discrepancies in the ballots were | found yesterday afternoon, the second day of the inspection of the ballots of Yavapai county in the suit of Wheeler against Ross, contesting the nomina- ton. The erasures on the ballots, ac- cording to the inspectors, occurred in two Prescott precincts and two small precincts in the county near Prescott. The erasures were very cleanly done, the inspectors said, and showed that great care had been used in removing every. trace of the original markings. The change was discovered, they said, only when the ballots were held up to l the light, but when this was done the original mark showed through the pa- per, the indenture made by the pencil showing clearly.
 No Other Marks Changed.
 The ballots then had been re- marked, the inspectors said, two thirds of the votes going to Ross and the re- maining third to Mrs. Hayward. No change was made for F. A. Carroll, who also was a candidate for the of flee. No marks for other offices on the ticket, the inspectors said. showed any traces of having been changed, with the exception of one or two cases where the voter had evidently placed his check in the wrong place and then blurred it out with the palm of his hand. In these cases, they said, the lead of the pencil showed on the paper. no attempt being made by the voter to remove the lead stains.
 In Prescott northeast precinct, II ballots were found. the inspectors said, which had been originally marked for Wheeler and then erased and re- marked either for Ross or Mrs. Hay ward. On many of these ballots, the inspectors said, the cross of the re- mark was entirely different from any other cross on the ballot. The ballot bag of this precinct, they said, was not tightly closed but was slightly open SO that the ballots could have been easily withdrawn. The seals on the bag were intact
 In Prescott northwest precinct, nine . ballots were found, they said, showing the erasufe of the vote cast for Wheel \ CT and the re-marking for either Ross or Mrs. Hayward. The neck of this
 bag, they said, was entirely open and
 bore no certificate from the board oi l supervisors that it had been opened l to get the tally book out The ballots r they said, were not strung on a string g Marks on five ballots in the small pre-. n cincts gave evidence of having beer d arased. the inspectors said.
 l. No Vote on Some Ballots. = The tally records made by the in s spectors in recounting the votes in tn, l. inspection showed that there were g. $ ballots in the Prescott northeast pre-
 cinct on which no vote had been cas- e for the office of secretary of state e Twenty seven ballots in Prescott el northeast precinct bore no votes fo r, the office of secretary of state 8 According to the official count a -e given out by the board of supervisor le of Yavapai county after its canvass
 Wheeler received SS votes in Prescott ~ northeast precinct. Ross received 6. rs Hayward, 54, and Carroll, 30. In Pres ~ cott northwest precinct, the officis ,s canvass showed that Ross received 8 5. votes. Wheeler 33, Hayward 50 an "a Callorr 23 votes.
 " The inspection of the ballots is bein made under the supervision of At
 torneys Struckmeyer and Johns fC -v Wheeler and Attorneys Bulard an Id Jacobs for Ross. The inspector fc ,r Wheeler is William P. Doheney, fC 1- Ross, Judge Frank DeSouza, and fc n the court, Cecil Boyce.
 no To Re-lnspect Ballots.
 MT. Struckmeyer stated yesterds
 that the inspection of several of tt
 larger precincts in Yavapai count
 which were gone over hurriedly in tf
 first day of the inspection would I IS made over again after all the precinc -s. had been inspected. The first day al inspection was made with a great de by of speed. he said, but on the secor O. day the ballots were scrutinized vel ve closely. Particularly, Mir. Struckmey, at said, would the ballots in those pr, ed cincts where the bags had not bee a. tightly closed be re-inspected. n About 10 precincts remain yet to l
 inspected. Of these two are Presco lu, precincts, Prescott northeast and Pre-. lr. colt southwest. These precincts wi ,f- be inspected the first thing today. n- the first days inspection Thursds lal the ballots of 32 precincts were il 'es spected.
 Wheeler filed the contest some tin lic ago, alleging that many errors we n, made by the boards of supervisors us every county in the state in countir
 and canyassing the returns r
 claimed he received the highest nun
 Der of votes for the office of secreta
 of state and asked he be declard t ,,, nominee of the party. He asked f y the inspection of the ballots cast yle the election in order to complete | of suit for the contest Wheeler alleg m, most of the errors in the canvass we Y. made in Yavapai, Graham, Maya -he Yuma and Apache counties Ross to answer to the contest denied tn In- Wheeler received the highest numb my of votes for the office and alleged tn ga votes were cast for Wheeler in ma ing of the precincts by voters who were r ms registered in the precinct.
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