Evening star., 1938-05-01

4 Swamped by nearly 100 900 ballots,
yoficials of the Districts suffrage ref
Hrendum decided early this morning
20 finish C. ing the votes, beginning
nt 2;3o p.It. today with new set of
tally clerks,
- The exhausted officials had worked
nearly l8 hours when they decided
the task could not be finished last
/, hight, William H. Mondell, chairman,
Bald.
" The vote. on the basis of the trend
at 2 am, was running better than 8
to in favor of national representa-
ton and about to l in favor of local
suffrage.
At 2 am. complete returns from
seven precincts showed 5,735 in favor
of local suffrage, and 1026 against
local suffrage; Gill in favor of ma
tional representation. and SAB against
national representation.
\At 2 am, when the counting
stoRped, the following total tally was
announced, though it included many
precincts in which all returns had
not be- len counted:
For local suffrage, PLATO; against,
1878.
For national representation, 22,553;
against,I 2,274
Of1cials said they intended to finish
the COURT on the ballot boxes that had
been opened, leaving the others for
the fresh crew of workers today
The vote in the election-the first
In Washington in 81 years-was much
heavier than had been anticipated.
officials said the total number of votes
cast Wis equivalent to all the votes
cast irs Wyoming during the national
electi9n in 1895. and twice as large
rs th< Nevada vote that year.
The size of the vote, expected on
che basis of registrations to run be-
tween $4,000 and $4,000, surpassed the
expectations of election officials.
$4,000 Eligible to Vote.
Officials estimated roughly that
there were $4,000 eligible to vote.
This was based on an estimated total
population for 1887 of $4,000, of which
That figure was reduced. however, by
the elimination of an estimated 49,
600 aliens and other residents who
maintain voting residence in the
States. The number of nonresident
voters was taken from claims of party
workers during the last national
campaign.
The two following questions were
submitted to the voters in So polling
places:
l--Do you want the right to vote
Tor officials of your own city govern
ment in the District of Columbia?
2--Do you want the right to vote
for President of the United States and
for members of Congress from the
District of Columbia?
That interest was not confined to
those actually in the city was indicated
by the receipt of wire from two
Washington socialites sojourning in
Miami, Fla.
The wire, signed by Mrs. Lester
Buchanan 1928 Massachusetts, avenue
NV, and Mrs. Prentiss Wilson, 2940
Albemarle street NV, was received at
election headquarters in the Times
Herald Building.
Election officials said the wire. al
though registering the senders in favor
OF suffrage. could not be counted as a
vote, but, with other similar communi-
cations, will be reported separately as
indicative Of local opinion.
BQxes Rushed for Count.
The SO ballot boxes were taken from
the schoolhouse polling places as
soon as possible after the polls closed
to 1917 H street NV, where the count
was officially made.
The procedure for counting the bal
lots had been carefully worked out by
election officials and went forward in
an orderly fashion, under direction of
Mr.. Mondell. He is the son of Frank
w. Monde}l, former Republican floor
leader of the House.
The ballot boxes, which were large
cardboard cartons, had been formally
sealed with an adhesive tape at the
polling places. The seals were signed
with the names OF precinct chairmen.
Each box was brought to headquar-
ters by two or more officials.
The election officials were enthusi-
astic when ballot boxes first began
pouring into the large room where
precinct chairmen had been holding
their preliminary meetings prior to
the election. The precinct chairmen
brought with them also a large Sheaf
Of yellow papers which had been used
for the registration Of voters. These
lSee EIIFTRAGE Pa1e I-e0