Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 48, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1880 — THE MAISE COUNT. [ARTICLE]

THE MAISE COUNT.

Opinion of (lie Supreme Court Justices Following is a synopsis of the answer of the Justices of the Maine Supreme Court to the series of interrogations^submitted to them by Gov. Garcelon: ’ 1. The Governor and Council have no authori y to order a new election when no proper return is made. The House may seat members who have in fact been elected, even if no return at all is made to the Secretary of State. A Representative is not to be deprived of has seat because municipal officers nave failed to do their duty. 2. The constitution calls for returns which shall be regular in all easential particulars, and which truly represent the facts they purport to set forth. But much of the constitutional requirements is merely directory'. 3. While towns may have seven Selectmen, most of them have but three, and the signature of two of these is sufficient. In the case of Boards of Aldermen, a majority of a qaorum, though not a majority of the whole, is competent to act. 4. It is immaterial whether the returns from a city show the vole by wards or not It is not necessary that each candidate’s name should be on the returns, provided that the votes returned as scattering, however added or subtracted, do not affect the result Votes returned as scattering may have had that word printed on them for all the Governor and Council know. Where a plurality elects, an election is iot to be defeated because the whole number of ballots is erroneously stated, or not stated at all. 5. Returns are not valid unless signed by the Town or City Clerk, but a Deputy Clerk or Clerk pro tern, would answer the purpose. 6. Tne Governor and Council must act on the basis of the returns as they are sent to the Secretary of State. If they purport to be made, signed and sealed in open meeting, the Governor and Council have no right to ascertain whether they were so made or not. 7. If returns are signed by two Selectmen, the Governor and Council are not to inquire whether the town had but two Selectmen or not The signatures would be enough in certain cases, and the presumption is in favor of the return. 8. A person not a citizen may be a Selectman dc facto, and bind the town as completely as if he were a Selectman de jure. So far as the public are concerned the acts of a de facto officer are as valid as those of a de jure officer. 9. In the case of marked ballots, Selectmen have the right to reject them when offered, but the statute forbids the rejection of a ballot after it has been received into the ballot-box. The Selectmen have no business to report the matter of marked ballots to the Governor and Council, and the latter have no right to pay any attention to such report or reference. 10. There can be no ground for rejecting the word “ditto” or “do” or disregarding the dotß or marks that are in oommon use aa their substitutes. 11. The Governor and Council have no right to reject returns on the ground that they are not genuine, unless objection in writing is presented to them declaring that any or all the signatures are not genuine, or that the return had been altered since it was made; then notice should be given to the parties interested, and in investigating the case the Governor and Council should be governed by the usufcl rules of evidence. 12. In case of duplicated returns, both in proper form, the first received must be the uasas of the action of the Governor and flnnnp.il If defective, they can be corrected according to the statutes. Returns must have their full effect if they are intelligible, in spite of trivial irregularities.