Show aw ii 1 THE ELECTION until the opinion 0 llie sua pi erne court in lie watson and ha a cases against city corey is filoia 10 to tell hie effect it will have upon our approach ing municipal election the attorneys for mr corey claimed at ono time that neither the legislature nor alie city council could cliance the composition of any city council or county court in the territory at another time alicy admitted that lie city council of ogden had the power to create as many municipal as it deemed necessary and to increase the number of and councillors councilors Counci lors tiie city council and pio portion them among the several wards as the council sea proper but at all times they hao denied the power of the city council to pass any further ordinance relating to elections or the registering of voters in wards and the pollion af votes in wards the two first propositions are directly opposed to each other and are while lie last one is in opposition to alie practice which has prevailed in salt lake city for nearly twenty years past if the supreme court has decided that the government of the city can not be changed by the legislature or city council and that the old ordinance could not be changed because of alie passage by congress of the edmunds and alie edmunds tucker laws then the election must necessarily be of the acera provided by law and ordinance in march 1882 viz a mayor four aldermen and five councillors one alderman from eacle v ard and the councillors at large if the court has decided that the legislature or council has power to amend alter or repeal alie election laws of alie territory or the ordinances of the city at pleasure then hie election must aldermen one from each of the new wards and ten councillors two from eacle municipal ward as provided by alie last ordinance of the city the old ordinance having been repealed in any event however as I 1 understand lie decision but one registration list can bo used and hie fotss must all be polled at one place this last conclusion beems ridiculous in the extreme just contemplate the voting of 2300 people from one list and into one box and this is alie law if alie old ordinance could not be changed by the council for it can not he changed legally by the election officers if this be alie decision the supreme court and the liberal party have overreached themselves Z As the supreme court of lie terri tiry lias affirmed judge hendersons decision in lie mandamus known as lie city cases and adopted his opinion in its length and we are brought face to face with two important questions to wit officers and how many ara to be elected II 11 what are their respective qualifications and how are they to to elected the decision leaves sections 1017 and 18 of article 1 ait of march etli 1888 as inapplicable to ordea city until she shall as provided in eaid act but all of article six except section 6 dors apply section 1 provides that in cities of the second class to which belongs a mayor shall be elected at large and two councilmen from each ward also elected at hargea recorder treasurer assessor collector and marshal and a justice of the peace from each ward but a pait of the provia of the first section forbids interference with existing qualifications qualification i of electors lectors lec tors or fijut atri or with the manner of ihm this produces no confusion as to the qualification of electors or aiu cers but how is it as to the manner of selecting them it atie electors in each ward were required to vote therein then there would be no confusion but can this bo done and preserve alie proper manner of electing or must the votes for ward officers be all given at the same place as heretofore there baa been but one polling place or can the voters be required to vote in their respective wards article eleven applies to Og denand it provides that the judicial power of the city shall be vested in its justices of the peace so hereafter neither the mayor nor the aldermen are to have judicial powers sec 0 of article 6 renders ineligible to any office any defaulter or person not to vote the decision ot abo court before recited applies abo aboe recited Boc tiona as herein applied to ogden so it la pretty clear what must be elected for the city at large by its electors but the difficulty is in electing two council raen and a justice of the peace fram each bord are to be elected by the voters of the or by lie voters at lare and if by clr former where are they to be voted for at the general voting place or at a polling place in each ward atwould beam that whilst for the at large as matters now stand each voter might claim to cast ilia vote at alie general polling place yet for the ward officers they should leave a polling place in respective wards bat there is w much confusion now when this statute alcen aa expounded by the courts that it is possible the voters of each ward might claim to participate in the election of all their local officers cerp however this may be and however much may exist as to the manner of election elect ioK there is none aa to alie officers to bo elected whether for lie city at large or tor the wards the utah commission commis Bion might remedy to a great extent confusion as to alie manner of electing by ordering polline places to bo opened in the respective spec tive arda and appointing election officers therein tho supreme court las sustained judge opinion juila maintains that the oell nanca pasted by the ogden city council in nov lat waa void because not authorized by the assembly his decision in effect means that nothing enacted by the city council in miter not previously by charter and Klec tion ordinance of jan 1831 can be operative the cli arter provides that all elections shall bo held conducted and the returns made as provided by the ordinance tho ordinance passed january 1881 baya aliat there shall be elected among other officers the following one alador alayor four aldermen five councillors etc these roust be elected at one poll only with but one ballot box because the old ordinance only provides for three judges of election and one ballot box sections 9 and 10 there can bo but one presiding judge of Klec tion to whom all votes anist bo delivered who in alie presence 0 the acter must aci deposit ibe ballot in the one box sec 13 this means that 2400 voters the approximate number now upon the registry list will have to vote at alie rate of four votes per minute if the election day contains ten houis aliis is alio legitimate result of the of the supreme court but degi berar corey has assumed legislative authority and has ordained that we must elect five aldermen and ten councillors it would be interesting to nov where he received his authority from the old ordinance was repealed by the new if anything can stand of the new ordinance alie repealing clause will stand atie liberal party claims that alie provision creating ten councilmen is good if they are correct consequently the old ordinance is repealed the supreme court say that tha council could not create council nen because they are new officers provided by the legislature the charter bays they may create this the city council has not attempted to do the charter says the council may create aldermen this they have not done because the mere formation of a ward does not provide for alie creation of an alderm xu without express enactment act ment under all this muddled legislation and diversified construction the only thing to do seems to be to accept alio alj ordinance as not being repealed and vote for four aldermen one from eacle of all four old wards five councillors at large and alie other officers mentioned in the cli arter and hold tho election at one place deposit the votes in aoe ballot box and before one presiding judge or it the old ordinance is considered repealed and the new ordinance declared void what we do then X |