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1892.] OF THE HOUSE OF DELEGATES. 615
suits and must become absoultely migratory. The
law is equally strict as to time and place. It is here
also mandatory. The time at which this election was
held, was long after the hour fixed by law. It should
have commenced at 8 A. M., it did not commence
until 12 1/2 P. M. But the contestants urge that after
it did begin, that everything passed off quietly,
and that it was a fair and free election. What
becomes of the abridgments of the time that the
law offered to the electors in which they might de-
posit their votes ? All the writers upon the law of elec-
tions say that this element will always enter into the
question of a contest. Is it possible to believe that
the contestees suffered no harm in this lapse of time
But the evidence fully answers this question when it
is shown that the bulk of those who refrained from
voting were Democrats, and the query is entirely
answered when we find that out of a vote of 669,
which is the registered vote of that precinct, the
highest number of Democratic votes cast were 28. It
is incumbent upon the contestants to show affirma-
tively that the contestees were not injured by the
abridgment of the time, otherwise the presumption of
law is that they were harmed, and the votes so cast;
will not be counted against them.
But there is yet one other serious irregularity con-
nected with the vote cast at this precinct, and that is
the ballot used.
Section 128 of the election law provides that all bal-
lots to be used and cast at any of the elections in this
State shall be printed and distributed at the public
expense.
Section 137 provides that all ballots for use at any
election shall be prepared, printed and furnished by
the Supervisor of Elections, and on the back and out-
side shall be printed the words "Official Ballot For,"
followed by the voting place for which it is prepared,
the date of the election and a fac-simile of the signa-
ture of the President of the Board of Supervisors of
Election.
Section 158 provides that "no ballot without the
official endorsement and the initials of one of the ballot
clerks shall be allowed to be deposited in the ballot-
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