Evening star., 1936-09-17


to be suspicious, the most healthful
thing that can happen is to remove,
If possible, the basis for any suspi-
cion of irregularity.
Early in the evening of Monday, as
! was seated in the Office of the Ban
gor News watching and tabulating on
a pad the incoming returns, noted
that Senator White was getting an
increasing lead. I remarked to one
of the men standing near me-a we'll
informed Republican-that 1t looked
rs If Mr.. White was going to win.
Wait till you hear from Lewiston"
he said.
When will We hear from Lewis
ton," asked.
Always Late.
"You won't hear until very late. be-
cause they always hold up the vote
there"
wanted to know why they held
up the vote in Lewiston, and nobody
knew. But I was prepared for the
wait.
During the night hours county after
none from certain wards in Lewis
ton. Naturally, being city with a
heavy vote. the returns would be large,
but it is usually the country districts
where the delay occurs in present-day
elections, and not in the cities.
Soon the returns were in from Au-
gusta, from Portland. from all the
cities, but no further word from Lew
aston.
We waited throughout the night 1t
was close to $3.50 am. The Associated
Press man in Portland was waiting.
too. He didn't dare write that Wal
lace White was elected even though
on the face of the returns it was
plain that White had won. But the
Associated Press had not heard from
the big wards in Lewiston.
Query Comes from Ohio.
Then came over the wires to Port
land an inquiry from an Ohio news
paper as to what was delaying the
Lewiston returns and that 1t should
be looked into at once.
But the Lewiston returns were still
help up. Finally around o'clock
the Lewiston returns did come. Prior
to this White had close to 10000
lead. bu. just couple of wards in
Lewiston cut his lead in half
Lewiston is the home town of both
Senator White and Gov. Brann. 1t
is inconceivable that White was unable
in his own city to run at least on
the same footing as he did in other
cities Of the State. But when the
Lewiston wards came in, the totals
showed some strange ratios. In one
instance out of nearly 1900 votes
there were less than 100 for White. |
But even If the total vote OF the
Lewiston wards that were held up
had been counted 100 per cent for
Brann. the number would have been |
insufficient to offset Whites W State |
lead. There was, of course, no way |
to add any more votes in these wards !
than were actually registered. Such !
limitation upon counting out" |
White may have saved him from de-
feat, If We assume that something |
irregular did occur. Why were
Lewiston returns held up this year
and also two years ago? If the delay
which. occurred two years ago is ex-
planable, why did it happen again I.
this time? Nowhere else in the State !
did they take as long to tally the re-
turns.
Unusual Occurrence.
But it is important in any ecount |
to check the list of registered voters
and see If they all visited the polls.
In one of these Lewiston sections,
was told by Portland man of !
prominence that two years ago there
were 100 per cent voting on the tally
lists which is to say the least unusual
in populous centers.
don't for a minute believe Brann,
who Is a high grade man, had any
knowledge Of or had anything to do
with this. But where local bosses have
everything to gain by a victory for a
party ticket from which they benefit,
all sorts of things sometimes happen
when ballots are counted. One
favorite method is to hold back re-
turns till the very last to see just how
many votes are needed and then extra
ballots are inserted in the ballot
boxes while the tally clerk may check
OF the names of persons on the regis
tration list who are know by him not
to have voted at all
In reference to Lewiston in particu-