Show I 3IAKE THE CAXVASS COMPLETE I The canvassing board appointed to examine the returns of election in Salt I lake county do not seem to see eye to eye any clearer than some other boards that have been organized We presume that each member is equally honest in his opinion with the others and all want to do what is right or is required by law 1 The board > is to proceed under the laws of the United States and of the Territory Utah The latter are those S which define the exact duties to be performed per-formed They are found in sections i 256 and 257 Compiled Laws of 1888 This board takes the place of that formerly composed of the clerk and some member mem-ber or members of the county court The same rules and regulations in reference ref-erence to the election of members of the Legislative Assembly apply to that of delegates to the Constitutional Convention Con-vention Section 257 provides If there shall be any disagreement in the returns in regard to the number 1 of votes cast for any Territorial officer or any officer whose election is affected by the votes of more counties than one then said members of the county court shall canvass the votes and proceed pro-ceed as herein directed I Members of the Legislative Assembly t and delegates to the Constitutional Convention are territorial officers That I is they legislate for the territory arid not merely for a district or county no mere y They are not county officers The canvassing can-vassing board then on finding any disagreement in the returns are to canvass the votes How shall they proceed Section 256 says If the right of any person voted for I for any office is In any way affected then the clerk and said members of i the county court shall open the ballots I bal-lots from said precinct and canvass the same so far as to determine the rights of the person whose office may be affected af-fected They may also cause to appear ap-pear before them any persons whom they may deem proper and take their testimony in relation tOO said election In said precinct j i What is the evident Intent and purpose pur-pose of the law ts it not > to protect I the rights of every candidate and cor tf rect errors that may have occurred in I making up returns Should not the powers of thIs canvassing board be ample am-ple for the purpose Ought they to be construed in a narrow contracted pro sciiptive way so as to leave in any doubt the election of any candidate whose righlts may be affected It seems that the position of one member at least of the present canvassing can-vassing board is that certain polls maybe may-be thoroughly canvassed but nol the other or others in the Third precinct The law does not provide for the canvass can-vass of votes from one or more polls but from the precinct There is no poll canvass provided for in the law A canvass of partof the votes is not a I canvass of the votes of the precinct If one batch of votes is left out of the count the law is not complied with Another thing The canvass is to be made so as to determine the rights of any person voted for whose office may be affected That cannot be done by restricting the canvass as proposed The canvass must be that of the votes I of the whole precinct and it must be sufficient to determine the rights of S any person voted for in that precinct for any oflice whose rights may be 1 affeCted I What is demanded what the board is appointed for what the law requires re-quires is to establish the fatots as to the number of votes cast for the candidates can-didates in the Third precinct Anything short of that will be a failure to comply with either It 5s no use to play with this matter or to creep into a narrow groove on a fancied paltry technicality Let the factS come out whatever they may be that is what is wanted This is rendered more emphatic by the conclusion of the board of canvassers canvas-sers after hearing the testimony of the witnesses that It further appears from such evidence evi-dence that the ballots have been preserved pre-served substantially as required by law and have not in ary way been tampered tam-pered with We commend that official statement to those who endeavor to raise a huge sensation for the purpose of making the public believe that there was ballot bal-lot stuffing in the Third precinct This affair ought not to close until the truth is established beyond question and the rights of all the candidates in that precinct have been fully determined deter-mined The returns have been shown in many respects to be erroneous Lea Le-a full and fair count of the ballots be made as the law requires |