Mexborough & Swinton Times – Friday 07 July 1893
The Conisborough Guardians Election Void
On Saturday a meeting of the Doncaster Board of Guardians was held, Mr. E. Crawshaw presiding.
The Clerk read a letter from the Local Government Board with reference to the recent election of guardians at Conisborough, and pointing out that owing to a contradiction in the instructions to the voters as to the number of votes they were entitled to give, and also bearing in mind that if the persons who only voted for one candidate had chosen to exercise their right to vote, 95 votes could have been given to any one of the candidates, it appeared to the Local Government Board that the result might have been different, and therefore they considered the return of the election must be set aside, and an order would be issued for a fresh election.
Mr. Battey: Will that affect the voting on the last proposition? (Laughter.)
The Chairman: I cannot tell that.
Mr. Battey: Both the Conisborough guardians voted for the £2, and if the election was not legal they are not guardians—it was Mr. Sharpe’s proposition.
Mr. Sharpe asked the cost of the election, which would fall on the parish.
Seeing that he wrote to the clerk on the Saturday previous to the election, pointing out the error on the voting paper, he asked if it was not within the clerk’s power to stop the election until some future period, so that the error might be rectified without the cost of another election.
The Clerk: I had no power, as Returning Officer, to alter the date of the election.
When he received notice of the error, he gave notice to the men who collected the papers to tell every voter they could vote for two candidates.
It was a printer’s error.
Mr. Sharpe said he was not finding fault with the clerk. He believed that the ruling of the Local Government Board was right.
The Clerk: It is not my mistake—it is a printer’s error, and I proved it to the satisfaction of the Local Government Board.
Mr. Brockwell asked if Messrs. Appleyard and Sharpe were not members until another election.
The Clerk said in his opinion they were members until the order of the Local Government Board was issued ordering a fresh election, and that order had not come out yet.