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Show NINETEEN ILLEGAL BALLOTS MAY NULLIFY THE SCHOOL ELECTION IN FOURTH WARD I Dr. Edward I. Rich, candidate for city school oirector, opposing Hiram H. Henderson, incumbent, received a majority of eleven votes on the face of the returns, but Mr. Henderson's friends, including attorneys, today declare de-clare that the election in the Fourth ward was void because nineteen illegal il-legal votes were counted in the result and because the judges did not com-ply com-ply with ine rigid requirements of the law regarding the disposal of excessive ex-cessive ballots. The ballot register of voters, on which each name is enrolled when the vote is deposited, showed 1439 votes, which must tally with the number num-ber of ballots. The count revealed 1458 ballots, or 19 in excess of the number registered. Instead of throwing throw-ing out nineteen envelopes, before opening them, as the law requires, tho nineteen ballots were included in the count. Dr. Rich's majority was only eleven, eight less than the number of alleged illegal ballots. Requirements of Law. The Compiled Laws of Utah, page 423, Section 853, provide, as follows: As soon as the polls at any election shall have finally closed, the judges shall immediately open the ballot-box and proceed to count the votes polled and the counting thereof shall be continued contin-ued until finished before the judges shall adjourn. They shall first count the number of ballots in the box. If the ballots shall be found to exceed the number of names on each of the poll-IlBts, the judges of election shall then I examine the official Indorsements on the outside of the ballots without opening the same, and if, in the unanimous opinion of the Judges, any one or more of the ballots in excess of the number on the poll-lists be deemed not to bear the proper official indorsement, indorse-ment, it or they shall bo put into a separate pile by themselves and marked 'excossive ballots.' If If there still is an excess of ballots, bal-lots, they shall be replaced in the box and one of the judges, without looking, shall draw out from the box a number of ballots equal to such excess and tho same SHALL BE LAID ASIDE AND NOT COUNTED. When the ballots and the poll-lists agree, or as above provided HAVE BEEN MADE to agree, the board shall proceed to count the votes. Each ballot shall be read and counted separately dim l'huii niuiuueu ui a martcea ticket shall be read and marked upon the tally-list. The entire number of ballots, EXCEPT EXCESS EX-CESS and defective ballots, shall be read and counted and placed upon the tally-lists and when all the ballots have been counted the board shall compute and declare the results." Judge Evans' 'Statement. " Frank Foulger, generally regarded as a supporter of Dr. Rich, was in charge of the ballot box and deposited all of the votes. The clerks in charge of the ballot-list were: Frank Hender-shot Hender-shot and Miss Edith Reid for the Eleventh Elev-enth and Twelfth districts, and Joseph E. Evans and Mrs. Joseph Wallace for the Thirteenth and Fourteenth districts. dis-tricts. Joseph E. Evans, who is county attorney, at-torney, advised the judges of the requirements re-quirements of law. Today he made the following statement in reply to an inquiry by the Standard: "Our first rough count showed 1450 ballots. To save time we put them all out on the table and segregated them in piles of fifty. We didn't check back to make sure of fifty being In each pile. To even, the ballots with the tally books, we took out eleven envelopes. Then we opened the other envelopes and proceeded to separate and count the ballots. At the start we decided that if we found two or more stuck together we would throw all out except one. We found, several sev-eral times, more than one ballot in an envelope. In fact, there were sometimes three, always for the same candidate, either Dr. Rich or Mr. Hen- i derson, in the same envelope. We kept one and threw the others out. In no case did we find different ballots bal-lots in the same envelope. They were uiwaa lur ints same canaiaate. "We tallied first Mr. Henderson, then Dr. Rich, then Mr. Swartsager. At the end we found we still had too many ballots 1447. We realized that either the count of envelopes was Incorrect, In-correct, or more than one ballot in the envelopes had been counted. "We decided then to put the eleven ballots back, of which we found seven were for Henderson and four for Rich." Asked if he would give his opinion as a lawyer of this method of. counting, count-ing, Under the terms of the law, Mr, Evans replied positively that he would not do so. Vital Points Involved, According to the law bookB, the poll list is the only check or standard of the number of ballots cast. Without it, anyone might stuff the ballot box and escape detection. The judges In this case made return that 1,458 ballots bal-lots were cast, when their poll list shows only 1,439, making an excess of 19. Instead of throwing these 19 out, as the law requires, they counted them, the result being 729 for Dr. Rich, 718 for Mr. Henderson, a majority ma-jority of 11 for Dr. Rich. Following are some of the many supreme su-preme court decisions covering the points: "When the statutory provisions and regulations in respect to public elections elec-tions are not substantially observed, the election is VOID, though it may have been conducted fairly and honestly." hon-estly." No ono has charged that the Fourth ward election wasn't fair and honest enough, but Mr. Henderson's friends say it was not leld according to law. "Where the court cannot detormine with CERTAINTY that the candidate received a majority, the entire poll shall be rejected." Another: "Where the election officers offi-cers have conducted tho election and the count in so irregular a manner as to make the returns and the ballot UNRELIABLE, the whole vote shall be void." w Another: "Where at a popular elec- ii mm tion there were but two candidates, one of whom received a majority of votes polled, but the other a majority major-ity of the votes of the qualified electors, elec-tors, the former was not legally chosen chos-en and had no right to the office." Another: "If a statute expressly declnros any particular act to be essential es-sential to the validity of an election, or that its omission shall render the election void, the courts MUST hold, whether the particular act in question goes to the merits or affects the results re-sults of the election or not, that such a statute is MANDATORY and the court cannot enter into the question of its policy." Another decision: "If a statute simply prohibits certain things to be done within the particular time, or in a particular mnnnor, and does not de- 1 clare that their performance shall be essential to the validity of an election, they will be regarded as MANDATORY MANDA-TORY if they affect the merits of an election, and as as directory only if they do not affect its merits." These are only a few of the many authorities found in the Investigation of the points involved. Ballots Locked in Box. The ballots were sealed and locked in the box and delivered by Miss Reid to the clerk of the board of educa-1 tion, as required by law. The board , will meet probably Friday night to ! canvass thq returns and decide upon i the legality of Dr. Rich's majority of oleven. Watchers for both candidates stated today that the women decided the election, both as workers and as voters. vot-ers. It Is believed a count would show a majority of women voters. It is the greatest vote ever recorded here In a school election, reported larger than tho vote In any Salt Lake City ward, i If the Socialist candidate's eleven votes had been cast for Mr. Henderson, Hender-son, according to the returns, there i would have been a deadlock and the ( rivals might have drawn straws for the position. i What May Happen Now? ( Under the law, the board cannot call another special election in Ward 1 4, and cannot appoint nnyone in Mr. Henderson's place, if Dr. Rich fails to qualify, because no vacancy exists. ' Tho law says tho Incumbent shall hold office until his successor is elected elect-ed and qualifies. I There was some grumbling today because the election officials allowed persons, especially women, to electioneer elec-tioneer and hand out ballots within a Lln I tut, (lllU 4111 (11UU11U mc JJUI1B, whereas the law requires them to keep at a distance of 100 feet. The candidates candi-dates did not kick, howevor, because "all of them did it" with probably equal advantage. It was a cold, raw day and the officials refused to be strict in this regard. Result in Fifth Ward. In the Fifth ward there were six more ballots in the box than were tallied by the poll-list Wade M. Johnson's majority was 20, however, or fourteen in excess of the surplus ballots, and there is no challonge, as far as known, of the validity of Mr. Johnson's election. Dr. Rich was informed this afternoon after-noon that his right to the office is seriously questioned. He had no comment com-ment to make. No one has yet suggested any way out of the tangle. nn |
