The Nome nugget., 1920-04-10
COUNCIL DECIDES
 ELECTION CONTROVERSY

1 lhe toiltToNeTSN TeSaTulnS the HlsIN = lorality, provoked by q disputed ba Hot | rendered by C. l.. Lovegren of the Signal Corps at Tuesdays elections,
 was settled, for the present at leas: by the city council, sitting as a can
 vassing board. voting Thursday even ing to accept the returns of the cleo tion board showing that Charles F. rison l0s and w. II. Pearson 1O7. The decision was not arrived s,,
 however, until after d legal battle. :n which Attorney Fred Harrison. who received the second highest vote, ac-
 cording to the records. contended for the acceptance of the Lovegren ballot. and City Attorney O. D. Cochran. who argued to the contrary.
 The story of the fatefu ballot which caused all the trouble is. briefly told as follows: l.ovegren, who is in charge of the city telegraph office of the War Department signal Corps. appea red at he polls Tuesday and was chal- lenged by NJ. W. Griffith on the al- legged grounds of his not possessing legal residence qualifications. Love gren has been here several years as a member of the signal Corps staff but, inasmuch as it is held that q sol dier does not acquire legal residence in Alaska, save he enlists in the ter ritory L.ovegren is said to have ac- auired no residence rights until last yasr. whom be reinlisted here dur ing the month of May. As the new election law provides that q voter must have legal residence in the territory for one year prior to voting it is claimed that he has not vet acquired
 the status of q legal voter, as only eleven months had elapsed since his Ireinlistment. After being challenged
 Lovegren was advised by City Attor- Iney Cochran that it was inadvisable for him to attempt to vote. Lovegren sought the advice of the District At torney and was by him advised thot he could vote. Without suspicion of the tumult he was to raise by such faction. Lovegren made further efforts l to cast his ballot. After some dispu- tation over the question he agree,E n be sworn in and the judges nf election accepted the ballot 'uudcr proto a" and with what is said to have been an understanding that it was not accepted as q vote. The vote was sealed in an envelope, marked as having been re- ceived under protest. and was receiv- cd by the election officials but not !!counted by them when the votes were counted. Neither was 1t deposited in the ballot box.
 Under ordinary circumstances the
 acceptance or rejection of the offend- ing ballot would have not been of lextraordinary importance In the
 present case however, the closeness
 of the vote-there being but one vote
 difference between each of the three
 candidates--the ballot became a mat
 ter of decided consequence, for the
 reason that if it happened to be in favor of Harrison, 1t would result in q tie vote between Harrison and Rice,
 who led the ticket.
 Realizing the singular jackpot into
 which the council was plunged by the
 unexpected contretemps, City Attor-
 postpone action for another day or
 two when that body met Wednesday evening to canvass the returns At torney Harrison also submitted re- quest to the same effect. stating he
 desired to offer petition to the coun- Gil bearing on the election. Mf Coch- ran said he was not satisfied in his own mind regarding the situation lcreated by the disputed ballot and wished to look up the law before ad- vising the council what action to take
 He stated frankly that the ballot created an intricate situation. the legal phases of which should be clearly de-
 termined. before action was taken by the council. Adjournment was taken until Thursday evening after the ballot box had been opened and the election certificate read.
 When the aassion was reaumad