MAINE. 



583 



Agai 





the Associated Press, and tho vituperation and slander 

 heaped upon me for over a quarter of a century. 



in, in a published defense of his pro- 

 after stating the provisions of the 

 Constitution, he speaks of the statutes, and tho 

 act ion of himself and the Council under them, 

 thus: 



So much for the Constitution. Supplementary to 

 this thr Mutates provide (chapter 4, section 82) that in 

 order to determine the result of any election by ballot, 

 tho number of persons voted for shall first be asccr- 

 tuine.l by counting tho whole number of separate bal- 

 lots given in, which shull bo distinctly stated, recorded, 

 and returned. Blanks are not to bo counted as votes, 

 and votes for persons not eligible to the office shall not 

 bo counted as votes ; but the number of such blanks 

 and tho number and names on ballots for persons not 

 eligible shall be recorded and return made thereof. 

 These provisions of the Constitution and the laws 

 apply to cities as well as towns and plantations, and 

 impose upon them that is, tho municipal officers 

 the duty of examining and comparing the lists of votes 

 given in tho several wards, of which the city clerk 

 shall make a record, and return thereof shall be mado 

 in tho same manner as selectmen of towns are required 

 to do. 



Such are the plain and unmistakable provisions of 

 the Constitution of this State, and in the discharge of 

 their duty of examining tho returns and issuing cer- 

 tificates of summons to the parties appearing to be 

 elected, tho Governor and Council have not only en- 

 deavored to follow both the letter and spirit of tho 

 Constitution, and laws made in accordance therewith. 

 as indicated by their own judgment, but tho advice or 

 their duly appointed legal officer, aided by tho best 

 legal talent in the State. 



And hero let it be remembered that the decision of 

 tho Governor and Council is not final. The Constitu- 

 tion makes the Senate and House of Representatives, 

 respectively, the final arbiters of the election of their 

 own member-!. All tho lists or returns which havo 

 been confided to the Council are to be laid before the 

 Senate and House of Representatives on the first 

 Wednesday in January annually, and they shall 

 finally determine who are elected. 



W ith these directions and requirements before them, 

 what are the Governor and Council required to do ? 

 To examine these returns, ascertain their validity, and 

 compare them with the provisions of the Constitution 

 and tin.' law. And, first, they must have been sealed 

 in open town meeting and in presence of the select- 

 men. and by necessary implication must come into the 

 hands of the Governor and Council in that condition. 

 Secondly, they must be genuine returns, corning from 

 bona fide towns or plantations, legally constituted and 

 organized. Thirdly, they must be signed by the legal 

 officers of the towns that is, as decided by the 

 courts, by a majority of the municipal officers of a 

 town or city and certified by the clerk. Fourthly, 

 they must contain a statement of the whole number 

 of oallots cast for the officers voted for, and the office 

 for which he was voted to fill. Fifthly, the name of 

 each person voted for, with the number of votes 

 against his name that were thrown for him. Sixthlv, 

 the names of the officers signing the returns must be 

 written with their own hands (as per judicial decision, 

 68 Maine, page 587). Applying these rules to the va- 

 rious returns, a tabulation of the persons voted for the 

 different offices, with tho votes each has received, de- 

 termines the result. 



In the inspection of returns and tabulation of tho 

 same, which has just been completed by myself and 

 Council, it has been our purpose to apply to every re- 

 turn tho same rule, to wit : Compliance with the re- 

 quirements of the Constitution and tho laWj without 

 rear or favor ; and if the result as to the political com- 

 plexion of tho Legislature is different from what was 

 churned by politicians interested in influencing tho 

 elections in other States, it is owing in part to the fact 



that tho claim was unfounded, and in part to the care- 

 IflMneu of municipal officers in making their returmi. 



The truth is, tho popular vote was against the Re- 

 publican party, and in tho Representative and Sena- 

 torial district** the vote was extremely close. In addi- 

 tion to the fact that several persons Jail to receive their 

 certificates in consequence of " fatal defect* " in the 

 returns from their towns or cities, there aro others 

 who would have been presumably elected but for the 

 carelessness of tho voters themselves or the ignorance 

 of tho candidates or those who provided ballots at tho 

 elections. Tho Judges of our Supreme Court have de- 

 cided that ballots cast for William II. Smith and W. 

 H. Smith are ballots to bo counted i-eparatcly. Sev- 

 eral changes have resulted from this condition of 

 affaire. In one county persons with as many as four 

 different combinations in initials received the Republi- 

 can vote and two the Democratic. That county was 

 entitled to only one Senator, and there was no alterna- 

 tive but to give tho certificate to the person having 

 the highest number of votes. In the Dunforth dis- 

 trict, already notorious, tho name of tho Republican 

 candidate was Charles A. Rolfe. The town of Dan- 

 forth voted for Chas. Rolfe. The result was that his 

 competitor received the certificate, and from like 

 causes other changes have occurred. 



The great hue and cry about " conspiracv," " fraud," 

 etc., arises from the fact that we have taken the Con- 

 stitution for our guide, fortified by the opinions of the 

 Supremo Court or the State and the advice of several 

 of the foremost legal gentlemen of the forum, and 

 have not permittee! substitution, alteration, or unau- 

 thorized amendments of the returns transmitted to 

 us for examination; and by us to be transmitted to the 

 Legislature for their final action. 



The sub-committee of the Council to whom 

 the returns were submitted made public on 

 December 26th their report to the Council of 

 their proceedings, as follows : 



Your committee, in submitting this report, deem it 

 necessary to state specifically certain facts connected 

 with the returns from many of the towns, cities, and 

 plantations which have materially affected the result 

 of the canvassing of the votes returned. There are 

 many returns which, owing to fatal defect, can not be 

 counted, but we shall specify only those which have 

 affected the result. Article 4, part 1, section 5, of the 

 Constitution, regulates the manner of electing Sena- 

 tors and Representatives of the Legislature, and also 

 the process of transmitting to the Governor and Coun- 

 cil tlic evidence by which they arc to determine who 

 have been elected. This section provides, in case of 

 towns and plantations, that municipal officers shall, 

 in open town and plantation meetings, at the close of 

 election day, sort, count, and declare the votes cast, 

 and form a list of all persons voted for, and after the 

 name of each person thus voted for shall write the 

 number of votes received by him. This list shall be 

 recorded in open meeting by the clerk, and a copy of 

 this recorded list shall be signed by the selectmen and 

 attested by tho clerk and sealed up in open meeting. 

 This copy of the recorded list, thus attested, is to be 

 depositor, in the office of the Secretary of State within 



thirty days thereafter. Section of the Revised 



Statutes requires that, in addition to the foregoing 

 specific mandatory provisions of the Constitution, the 

 returns shall state tho whole number of ballots cast 

 at the election. The same section of the Constitution 

 requires that the Governor and Council shall open 

 and compare the returns thus transmitted, and from 

 them determine who appears to be elected, and the 

 Governor is to issue to such persons as thus appear to 

 be elected a summons to take seats in the Legislature. 

 Of course, the first requirement is that the returns 

 shall bo made and scaled up in open town or planta- 

 tion meetings. Wo understand that this is required 

 in order that electors may bo present and see that tho 

 returns aro made in accordance with the facts; and 

 we are of the opinion that the returns not mado up in 



