The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-08-29

mo one has explained what be-
came of the votes of 4.S72 voters
who are certified as having voted,
but whose ballots are not recorded
in election results" Clauer said.
"In the face Of these official rec
ords one must conclude either that
the ballots cast In the Republican
primaries were not properly count
ed by the boards which the Repub-
licans controlled. or that the poll
sheets prepared by the Republican
boards were padded because the poll
sheets were to become the basis OF
registration for the election"
Mutilated Ballots
Mutilated and incorrectly marked
ballots account for most Of the DIFF
ference in figures, Ira M. Holmes
president of the board of election
commissioners, answered Clauer's as
sertions.
He also said that many voters
simply registered at the booths and
failed to vote, while others voted
for both candidates. Absent voters
DAAONS NNlO OAlNll DciuAg NyelA GU
according to Holmes.
In one precinct there were more
than 200 mutilated ballots" said
Holmes. THE law stipulates elec-
tion officials must reject these bal
lots and we obeyed the law"
"Clauer's hints OF crookedness are
absurd" Holmes continued. "The
Democratic vote was so low that he
has to howl about something; so
the board is the target"
CIauer's Statement
Clauer's statement follows:
Either the Republican primary OF
last May was sufficiently irregular
to create serious doubts as. to
whether the present nominees were
the choice Of the party or all ar
rangements have been made to cor
rupt the November election.
THE city clerk certlfles to us that
101, ,019 persons were registered at
the primaries.
THE election board certifes that
96,147 votes were cast at the pri-
maries; that Of this number S5,414
mayoralty candidates and 1912 for
the Democratic mayoralty candi-
dates.
mo one has explained what be-
came of the votes of 4,S72 voters
who are certified as having voted
but whose ballots are not recorded
in the election results. !
I'm the city clerks certifcation OF
the names of those registered we
find names for practically all Of the
Democratic ballots counted in the
primary. The differences of more
than 4,S00 between the primary reg
istration and the total number of
primary ballots counted represents
instances in which Republican votes
were not counted or 1t represents
padding OF the Republican registra.
ton in preparation for the corrup-
ton of the coming election.
Unofficial attempts have been
made to explain this discrepancy of
more than 4,S00 votes on the the
ory that it was caused by the mu-
tilation Of ballots which could not
be counted by the election boards.
All Republican
I'm no previous election in In
dianapolis has there ever been more
than a few hundred ballots mutilated
and II this explanation is to be ac-
|cepted, 1t is more than peculiar that
the mutilation should have been con-
fined almost entirely to the Re-
publican party.
1T is not reasonable to believe
that approximately per cent of the
Republicans who voted at the last
primary mutilated their ballots while
less than one-half of one per cent Of
the Democrats were so unfortunate
Under the inadequate and unfair
elections laws which govern our
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