The returns by the several election boards of the City of Reading for the general election held on Nov. 8, 1927, showed that for the office of City Treasurer Mr. Hoverter had received an apparent plurality of sixty-three votes over the Democratic candidate, Mr. Kershner,
In accordance with the provisions of the act, each petition was accompanied by a deposit of $50. It now becomes our duty to certify to the prothonotary whether or not “fraud or substantial error was committed in the computation of the vote cast on the ballots” in the several boxes, or “fraud in the marking of the ballots contained therein, or otherwise, in connection with such ballots.” Section 3 of the act declares that where the existence of fraud or substantial error is found and thus certified, the prothonotary shall return to the petitioners the sum of $50 deposited; and seotion 4 provides that in cases where it shall not appear that fraud or substantial error was committed, the persons upon whose petition the ballot-box shall have been opened shall forfeit to the county said sum of $50.
In two precincts, to wit, the 1st of the 7th Ward and the 1st of the 13th Ward, no error of any kind appeared. The recount agreed exactly with the return. Hence, the deposits accompanying the petitions in those cases must be declared forfeited.
In the remaining fifty-six precincts, the error in the return varied from one vote in seven precincts to seventy-five votes in the 1st precinct of the 17th Ward. In thirteen returns the error amounted to ten or more votes. In seven precincts, the difference was but one; in five, it was two; in six, it was three; in seven, it was four; and in the remaining fifteen, from five to nine.
Whether an error in a return must be regarded as substantial or not, it would seem, would be dependent upon the circumstances. An error of ten votes in the return of one precinct of a municipality which gave an apparent majority of 50,000 votes and upwards could not be held to be real and substantial. In the face of such majority, such error could have no appreciable effect upon the general result. But where, as in our case, the three candidates for an office receive almost the same number of votes, and where the plurality of the highest is less than a hundred over Ms nearest competitor, and where, as the recount progresses, that plurality hovers, until the third to last box is opened, around zero, any error may well be substantial. During this recount the apparent plurality shifted from time to time between Hover-ter and Kershner, and each single vote became of real and substantial importance. In view of this fact, notwithstanding that the great error in the 1st precinct of the 17th Ward was> decisive, we must hold that substantial error has appeared in the return of each precinct, excepting only the 1st precincts of the 7th and 13th Wards.
From Charles K. Derr, Reading, Pa.