Evening star., 1952-03-19
Eisenhower's S Drive
Boosted by Write-In
Vote in Minnesota
Continued From First Page.)

Continued From First Page.)
school teacher and Mr.. Stassen's
only opponent on the Republican
primary ballot, had only 19,075
votes. Mr.. Siattedahl gave Gen.
Macarthur as his first choice and
Senator Taft as his second.
On the Democratic side Of the
primary, Senator Humphrey, run
ming as favorite son committed
to President Truman should Mr..
Truman seek denomination, had
S8,486 votes. Senator Kefauver
of Tennessee, who refused to en-
ter the Minnesota primary against
the favorite-son candidate, re-
ceived 17.489 write-in votes. Presi-
dent Truman had 3,121 write-in
votes: Senator Russell of Georgia,
S3; Gov. Stevenson of Illinois, 18,
and 81 votes were written in for
Douglas" which could either be
the Supreme Court justice or the
Senator from Illinois.
Vote Exceeds Expectations.
Despite unfavorable weather.
snow or rain fell over most of the
State all day-the difficulties Of
casting write-in ballots on voting
machines. and a shortage Of bal
lots in some areas, the vote total
exceeded expectations.
Election experts in the Secre-
tary of States Office, using the
vote in other presidential pri-
marieS as a guide, had forecast
a vote of about 100000. The total
already exceeds 100000. In reg
ular State primaries in recent
years an average total Of around
100000 votes have been cast.
In some Minneapolis precincts
supplies Of ballots ran out and
voters wrote their choices on plain
pieces of paper-a procedure the
secretary Of States Office said
would be legal. In one precinct
more than 100 persons waited in a
polling place until IL minutes after
the polls closed for an emergency
supply Of ballots. They all marked
their ballots in a little over four
minutes.
Vote Draws Attention.
The ruling of the State attorney
general that write-in votes must
be counted turned a primary,
which was expected to be a tame
affair. into a contest that drew
wide attention. In addition to the
preference vote in yesterdays pri-
mary. the voters were electing 25I
of the States % delegates to the
Republican National Convention,
and % of 26 delegates to the Dem
ocratic National Convention. All
delegates are pledged to support
their candidate until released by
him or until his convention vote
drops below 10 per cent.
No provision is made in the
State law for write-in votes. and
even If Gen. Eisenhower's total
vote in the preference contest
should exceed that Of Mr.. Stassen,l
he would not automatically getl
any of the Minnesota delegates.
The only way he could have them
pledged would be by court action
or through action of the Republic
can State Convention, when It'll
meets to pick the delegates at
large. t't
Gen. Eisenhower's friends in
Minnesota expressed great salts
faction over the primary voting.
One statement said in part: Gen.
Eisenhower, facing the toughest
political fight of our time-the
need Of winning write-in votes
against a favorite Son-has re-
ceived a magnificent expression
in the belief that he should be
President"
Stassen Says He's Pleased.
Mr.. StaSSen on the other hand,
said: II am very well pleased with
the returns thus far and am
surprised Senator Taft is running
as weak as he is"
In Paris, Associated Press dis