CONNECTICUT. 



Treasurer, Marvin II. Sangor, 



r |,tr..llrr, Nicholas Staub, 1,002. (>,,- 



nulwrolopjedia" for 1KIM), piip-'J-J-J.) They 

 bowed* that the lr;il election ollieers iii ci-r- 

 aiid election districts had thrown nut 

 iv I'rnliilition and other ballots for alleged 

 mical irregularities; mid it was claimed bv 

 i;> -publicans that these ballots, if counted, 

 '.atiLjo the result that there would bo 

 by the people, because no candidate 

 Id have a majority over all opponents. The 

 - of the State Constitution governing 

 art ion of the General Assembly in this mat- 

 are as follow : 



lair list of the persons and number of votes gi veil 

 _vtlicr with tin- returns of tin- presiding 

 loew (of election in each town or district) shall be, 

 tin- Treasurer, Secretary, and Comptroller, made 

 efore the General Assembly then next to 

 , on the first day of the session thereof. 

 d Assembly shall, after examination of the 

 , declare the person whom they shull find to be 



sen, and give him notice accordingly, 

 no person shall have a majority of the whole 

 aber of said votes, or if two or more shall have an 

 equal and the greatest number of said votes, then said 

 >ly, on the second day of their session, by joint 

 t' tx>th Houses, shall proceed without debate to 

 e a Governor from a list of the names of the two 

 ons having the greatest number of votes, or of the 

 e of the persons having an equal ana highest 

 ,ln-r tif votes so returned as aforesaid. 



appears from the above-quoted provisions 

 the General Assembly shall examine the re- 

 and declare the persons whom it finds le- 

 y chosen. The cpuestion that arose at this 

 , on which the two parties were divided, was, 

 extensive an examination of the returns 

 contemplated by this language of the Con- 

 til ion. The Senate, immediately after organ- 

 izing, declared the Democratic position in the 

 following resolution, which was sent to the 

 House for concurrence, and was there referred to 

 'iiimittee: 



'solved. That the provisions of the Constitution . . . 



ly prohibit any revision by the General Assem- 

 bly oi the conduct of the several electors' meetings, 

 and any alteration of the count of ballots as made by 

 officers of the several electors' meetings. 

 'ttolved, That the General Assembly is a leirisla- 



body and is not a judicial body, and ought not 

 and determine any question concerning the 

 lection of State officers, except to declare the ]" 

 whom tin v shall lind to be legally chosen after an 

 examination of such fair list of the persons and num- 

 ber of votes given for each, together with the returns 

 of the presiding officers, and all -other questions shall 

 I'e heurd and determined by tin- ordinary judicial tri- 

 bunals in the due, orderly, and customary course of 

 judicial procedure. 



In accordance with this view the Senate, after 

 receiving the returns from the House on the 

 opening day, at once examined them, and by a 

 of resolutions declared the election of the 

 Democratic candidates. When these resolutions 

 were sent to the House on the following day, 

 Jan. 8, that body, instead of taking action there- 

 on, voted that a special investigating committee 

 of 8 members be appointed by the Speaker, with 

 authority to examine carefully the returns, to 

 send for necessary persons and papers, and to sit 

 during any recess of the House. It was then 

 voted that a recess be taken till Jan. 20, a new 

 rule having been first adopted by which the first 



legislative day should extend over every such re- 

 cess and until a re.-olution of adjourniiif nt should 

 be adopted. The Senate continued its * 

 through Jan. 1U, adjourning on that day till Jan. 

 20. Before adjournment, on .Jan. Itf, tin- Demo- 

 cratic candidates, whom it had hy resolution de- 

 clared elected, appeared In-fore it and took the 

 oath of office administered by one of its mem- 

 tier>. The officials so qualified then demanded 

 possession of their respective offices from the 

 Republican incumbents, and were n-fiiM-d on the 

 ground that they were not legally entitled there- 

 to. When the House reassembled, on Jan. 20, 

 its investigating committee was not ready to re- 

 port, but on Jan. 28 a majority and a minority 

 report were submitted. The Republican ma- 

 jority of the committee set forth its findings as 

 follows : 



It appears from the face of the returns that there 

 were in the whole State 1,289 general ballot* rejected; 

 459 for being "double," which, since the passage of 

 the so-called secret-ballot law, is no longer, in the 

 opinion of the committee, legal cause for rejection : 

 and 881 for all other causes. Of said 831, 111 general 

 ballots were rejected for the following causes, none of 

 which assignment of causes, in the opinion of the 

 committee, justifies the rejection of a ballot, to wit: 



" Illegal," New Britain. ... .15 



" Illegal," Killingworth 8 



' For having on the word for,' " Brooklyn 4 



' Because of word ' for,' " Watarbnry 48 



"Prohibition votes not printed in 'conformity with the 



law," Norwalk 80 



' Not printed according to law," Stratford 11 



"Not as prescribed by Taw," Wolcott 1 



Total Ill 



It further appears that 121 general ballots were re- 

 jected, and no cause assigned therefor. 



Your committee further find from the face of said 

 returns that in many towns throughout the State the 

 number of votes for State officers counted and re- 

 turned by the counters and moderators exceeds the 

 number of votes cast in said towns respectively. 



When your committee, in pursuance of their duties, 

 proposed to examine evidence explanatory of said re- 

 turns, which was called for by questions arising on 

 the face of the returns, the Democratic minority re- 

 fused to sit with the committee, on the ground that 

 neither the committee nor the General As?.emhly had 

 power to take any extrinsic evidence regarding the 

 returns. 



Your committee, in pursuance of their duties, ex- 

 amined the evidence explanatory of said returns, and 

 find that in the Fourth district of the town of Norwich 

 88 general ballots were returned as counted in excess of 

 tin number of general ballots east in that district, and 

 in excess of the number of names checked as voting 

 in said district 



Your committee further find that 20 of said wrong- 

 fully returned general ballots were counted for tne 

 Democratic candidates for Governor, Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor, Treasurer, and Secretary, and 10 of them for the 

 Democratic candidate for Comptroller, by reason of a 

 clerical error in footing the number of votes counted 

 for them respectively. Your committee have been un- 

 able to flna for whom the remaining 18 votes wero 

 counted, or the cause of their beinir counted^ 



Your committee further find that l-''i IJepublican 

 general ballots were rejected in the Filth 1> let net of 

 Bridgeport tor having an alleged distinguishing mark, 

 and that said distinguishim: mark was merely a 

 minute speck made by defective printing, was found 

 on numerous ballots used in other place.- at said elec- 

 tion, and was not a distinguishing mark in the mean- 

 ing of the law. 



Your committee further find that 103 general bd- 

 lots, which are part of the class of 1 1 1 hereinbefore 



