In eYety community, regardle
of . e, there ay arises some
ong e that c u dissat'
f tion ·th political outcome .
Of course, h di ti faction .
expected, being the co quence
of participating in a free and
democratic society.
It is indeed, no great surprise
that, in our electoral pro there
ays lOme candidate who
win, and some candidate ho
10 ; lik . , there' alway
ome proposition that win , and
some propo 'lion that 10
Ho e r, hat' not expected,
is for one candidate to be an­
nounced th official winner to­
day, and in the political
breath, to b announced the offi­
cial 0 r tomorro . This . very
gre t surpriJe! This' a paradox
that gives no only deep amaze-
but requires a ry
county
WE
TO DERELKT
DUTIES AT THE POLI.S7
According to . ebipn , a
number of chec and ces
are provided to y' d the unfor­
tun te incident tha oce in
the Benton to 'p co ble
race.
First of all, the Ia stat that
"thirty minut before the open­
ing of the po the inspecto of
e etion shaD arrive at the polling
place, place the voting devices in
position for voting, and examine
them to e that they have the
correct ballot label by comparing
th m with the mple ballots and
are in proper working order.
This being th c ,"printing'
errors ouJd have been found
before the fint voter had cast the
tint ballot on e ction day in any
precinct.
Secondly, the la clearly states
that as soon polls officially
co, the inspectors are to open
the ( oting machine) counter
compartment in the presence of
the challengers and aD other per-
sons lawfully 'thin polling
p ce, giviD f�' to all tb
Perhaps the mo puuJing
estion on this point ., hy' it
that the Doubleday company
bears the blame fo a printing
error of constable candidate
nun (due to a ru order) hen,
though the . hipn
Supreme Court declared gislatiw
rediatrictin unconstitutional, the
county still had more time to
print the baDo than the law re­
quires.
The provide for a mini-
mum of 20 days deli ry of bal­
lots to local clerks. The county re­
cd galley proofs from Double­
day more than 50 day before
e ection day. Surely, this suf­
ficient time for any election board
to inspect and correct.
In dition, according to the
county, part of the cause for mis­
printing of constabl name as
due, perhaps, to the practice of
randomly arranging name on the
ballot for different precincts.
Yet, ccording to state la , in
referring to paper ballot, "the
names under the heading designat­
in e ch official position, where
there are more names than there
are candidates to be nominated
for ch office, shall be printed on
the ballot in the following man­
ner: The forms shall be set up
th the incumbent t name at the
head of the list and the other can­
didate arranged alphabetically
according to surname . The law
doe not indicate, in any way t ar­
ranging name in a random fa h­
ion.
Acc rdingly, the arne stipula-
. on for name order holds true for
machine ballot ; the 1a requiring
that . "in priniary elections the
name under th ading d . gnat­
ing ach official position all be
printed in the same order as the
names required to be listed on
paper ballot."
The legal reference on this c­
oon of the state legislature indi­
cates ry stronly that this change
in th . very substantial! that
, no to be altered, or bolishing
former p lice.
be facsimile copie
ffi' bot," and shall be
r uired by
Therefore, since every candi­
date in the August 7 primary elec­
tion received from the county a
ganey proof of th official elec­
tion ballot printed by the
Doubleday company, and each
candidate permitted to in­
spect the ballot 47 days before
the election, and no candidate re­
portedly found an error in print­
ing, then,obviou y, there should
be no error in printing.
Consequently, any printing
errors that occured after the can­
didates re presented with the
original approved galley proofs
d to be the resul of the
county instructing Doubleday to
randomly arrange names on all
machine ballots, hich i against
the 1a •
DID TIlE COUNTY C
VASSERS FOLLOW LAWFUL
OCEDURES HANDLING
TIlE RECOUNT!
Of particular inportanee i the
procedure outline in the Ia for
filing of petition of grievance. If a
candidate' "aggrieved by a de­
fect or mechanical malfunction,
'«the law provides for the candi­
date to petition for a special elec-
. tion.
Ho ever, in this case, the claim
of "defect or malfunction" of bal­
lot not made by either one of
the candidates. either the in­
cumbent not the challenger peti­
tioned the secretary _or c erk of
the board of canv r.
On the contrary, it w the
township controller who wa ag­
grieved by the number of otes
the incumbent received, and dis­
mayed t so fe relati es and
friend had voted for him. Th
controller, in turn, took his griev­
ance to the township clerk, ho
then forwarded the appeal to th
county.
I onica1ly, the incumbent con­
stable, himself, had already grace­
fully conceded defeat, and cons­
sidered the offical outcome sim­
ply the re ult of hi inability to
communicate his position to the
voters. As far as he was con­
cerned "the buck top here."
everthel ss, it did not top
there. The county canv er came
in with reat dispatch, within
three days declared all vote for
th challen r in thre precinct
null and oid, re ned the count
in favor of the incumbent,
clo d the books.
. · Yet, the 1 w tates that peti
tion is to be ftled by th i-
date, alleging the fact, identifyin
the precincts, ith· tu
certification of the candid t
is yet fo be reported that
cedure w folio ed by
cumbent.
Again, the 1a
ttention
curing attor-
It m, t this point, that
re remain for tiling the con-
y
CO STABLE
CA DATE
HOWO ,
THE OST
state that "after a candidate has ble question, and dispelling at!
flied a petition and made the doubt and rumors a to political
(fianacial) depo it herein required, coDu 'on in the reversal of the
the clerk of board canv rs official election decision, three
shall give a notice thereof to the altemati e :
oppo ing candidate within 24 umber one, e ry community
hour after filing same by deliver- concerned county commissi oner
ing to such candidate a copy of civic leader, and re ponsible medi
ch petition." organization cont ct the local
80 ever, du to th urgent office of the Secretary of State
ppeal of th other than the and requ an in e tigation of the
candidates, such not the Augu 7 Benton township con-
in thi matter. ab primary election race.
Surely, it i of no benefit to ber , 0, the County
anyone in the community to Board of Can r , ccording
ligate the name , to discredit the to order special elec-
reputations, or to infu lac of tion for office only in e ch
confidence in political Ie dership precinct affected "
(or any leadership for that urn r three, (and perhaps
matter), e pecially when there th and mo ccommodat-
already exi t ch widespre ding), the office of the County.
apathy among eligible voters and Cler declare immedi tely both
the community as a hole. the incumbent candidate and the
everthele , when in this par- challenger winners of the Aug.
ticular matter, there obviously 7 primary election r ce for the of­
appears to be gro infractions of fice of con able.
the law at more than one I vel of This is not only po ible, but
county government, a deep con- legal if, according to state 1a ,
cern inevitably prev ils. A concern the Benton Township Board of
o important that it impels the Trustee did not officially deter-
guardians of the electoral proce mine the number of constables
to act, and act swiftly. to be elected, at lea t, . months
Fortunately, ichigan state prior to the Aug. 7 prim
law provid for rectifyin viola- election. If thi not done,
tions of the election la and reg- then the la states that the
ulations by administrative boards township must elect t 0 con­
or other officials bearing admini - st bl .
trative responsibility. It is the Obviously, the alternativ
duty of the Secretary of State to can only be operational if th
pre rve the purity of elections st ndard - bearers of the com-
and protect against abu of the munity fulfill their responsibil-
law. ity to vocally and visibly ct to
The Secretary of State i b th impartially fegu rd the rights
emp wered and required by la of each individual ithin th
to inv Ivc him I r or hi ffice in c mmunity,
In the final naly i . no matter
di atified e rna be ith
ontin on 12
an ngoing, in-depth invc tigatinn
o "admini t rativc violation of
election lu and an orh r viola-