| Show TILE THE SUMMIT COUNTY ELECTION THE CONTEST BEFORE THE BOARD OP OF CANVAS canvassers SERS NO investigation OF FRAUD BY my THE commission WHO HAVE ALL POWER rower WHEN THEY WANT IT AND NONE WHEN THEY DONT at the meeting of 0 the boar boari 1 of canvassers this morning alma eldredge chairman of the peoples party central committee of summit county was present mr kirkpatrick appearing as his hia counsel D C mclaughlin ln the liberal candidate canaida te for member of the legislative assembly f from rom summit county was also present and was represented byj R arthur brown governor ramsey bamsey chairman of the utah commission announced that the summit county election lection returns had been reached and that if there was to be any contest the parties would now be heard secretary thomas then read the all ail allegations ali ati I 1 e gati gall ons of fraud from the peoples r party arty central committee and also the answer of the utah commission that the alleged irregularities would be considered when the canvass is entered upon 0 n mr ui kirkpatrick I 1 trw atrick stated that it was the request of the deop peoples 1 els party that a definite day be set an and d all pa panties parties artles be notified that a thorough investigation an might be made mr E eldredge dredge cha chairman r of the county committee could get ready in three to five days secretary thomas stated that the contest proceedings would be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the election law of 1878 W W riter sug suggested ested that the count be deferred until until the whole subject could betoken betaken be taken up ap P H lannan ha had bad some doubt as to the power of the board to send for the ballot boxes and make the ahe investigation desired J bf young moved to proceed with the counting countin g of the votes young and lannan voted in the affirmative and riter eiter and hammond in the negative mr air thomas chairman decided the tie by i eting in the affirmative the canvass of the votes was then proceeded roce eded with until park cit city returns furns were reached when mr kirkpatrick kirk lirk suggested that further proceedings ce be waived the count however was continued resulting resul tingas as follows for councilor to the legislative assembly 8 francis SM martin farrell farren for Represent aaice afire to the legislative assembly W E pack rack D 0 mclaughlin for county superintendent of district schools E IL reed A A L seward for county surveyor K R R salmon oliver C for county selectman john rack pack F IV haight at the completion of the canvass of the summit county returns mr kirk patrick presented the request of the hatrick summit ummat county peoples party committee to the board of canvassers and the utah commission he asked that a date be fixed at which the details of the election could be heard and that an order be made requiring that the ballot boxes registration lists books of judges of election and necessary documents be forwarded to the canvassers tag Tas sers it might be contended that the allegations were not specific enough the board could not afford in the interest of fair election elect lonto to ref refuse us topa to pay any attention toa to a request for an examination ani ant on which could not be had without the documents referred to there was no rule requiring any par nicular form of statement in thi this s preliminary stage of the proceedings requesting an investigation the request was reasonable and one the board could hardly refuse J JB R mcbride claimed that it was not within the provi province vwe vRe of the canvassing board to enter into an investigation of the general charge of fraud they could only determine what the result of the election was at the most b by the counting of the ballots 11 if no discrepancy or irregularity it appeared on the face of 01 ot the return returns st they could only declare the result no charge of f fraud rand could be investigated by the board no matter what the fraud committed an examination could not be entered into A contest should be carried on through the courts he thought the canvass of the returns showed no irregularity and should be accepted the board could not go behind the returns their duties were purely ministerial if all the allegations made were true it would not affect tile the declaration the board should make arthur brown stated that the request asked thel the board to create a new law and enter into an investigation which they were unauthorized to make the contest conid could only be made in the courts mr kirkpatrick said it was in vain to read the acts sets of the legislative assembly the question was Is the utah Commis commission siong appointed by congress powerless to investigate the v validity alid ity ot of any votes cast were they to ser read the returns and declare the result it could not nov be the ath section of the edmunds law provided a canvassing board to canvass and return the votes voies and declare the election as it should be certificates were to be issued to the candidates lawfully elected these certificates were the only evidence necessary to seat a member of the legislative assembly be e yond further inquiry the charge of fraud was a public on onland and affected the fairness of the election and instead of being thrown out on technical technicalities atles the allegations should be promptly investigated vesti gated the investigation asked lor for was to so go behind the returns gov ramsey stated that the commission had bad ordered the ballot boxes preserved indefinitely f for or the purposes of contest the commission had bad followed strictly the letter of the statute as they understood it and the supreme court had decided tha that t their powers powars were limited they had no power to go behind the returns the remedy was in the courts the judiciary could investigate the ballot boxes they should not mot be tampered with for light and trivial causes the commission had been assured by the authorities of summit county that park city would be divided into precincts but this was not done so the commission had bad established four polling places for the convenience of voters alma eldridge probate judge of summit county stated that there was some misunderstanding about the division of park city into precincts and the assurance referred to was not known to the county court of summit county the request had come to them just prior to the august augut election and too late to make any change the court had under der stood f from rom the commission they would make a segregation of the votes but they had bad changed their minds also promised to geve the election their personal attention and it it was because of this assurance that tiie tile the informal letter containing the charges was written what the candidates of the peoples party wanted was an opportunity and they would show that gross frauds had been chojn emitted the eau caU canvassers assers took a recess until oo 2 clock this afternoon the liber a candidate for representative was heard to remark as oe lie left the building 6 what I 1 want to get is that certificate upon reassembling at 11 2 P H lannan moved that the board proceed and declare the result as shown upon the face of the returns the motion was carried as all the jud judges 68 had certified to th the e correctness of the returns including inc ludine cherep of the people peoples party sarty utah county was then t aken taken u up and nd the canvass of returns p proceeded ro eede with aa ith |
