The Port Angeles Election Heist
After voters elected a Populist candidate as mayor, the city council took the law into their own hands and recounted the ballots to strip him of the office.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Last Tuesday the voters of Port Angeles elected Frank McGill mayor by a majority of 16. Yesterday afternoon, with no notice of contest, the present city council met to canvass the votes, when it was resolved to 'go behind the returns.' The council resolved themselves into a returning board, opened all of the sealed ballots, and proceeded to a recount. Over 200 votes were thrown out as not 'clearly indicating the intention of the voter,' after which it was found that W. C. Garfield had been elected mayor by a majority of 18 votes. Mr. McGill, however, announces that he proposes to have the office. As there is clearly a disposition to keep him out of it, there will likely be litigation. McGill is a Populist, and those who are now trying to keep him from holding the office to which he was elected maintain their motives are purely patriotic, claiming it would be a disgrace to have Port Angeles presided over by a Populist mayor.
“They claim it would be a disgrace to have Port Angeles presided over by a Populist mayor.”
This is a raw example of political machine tactics in the 1890s. The People's Party (Populists) were a major political force in Washington State during this period, and the hostility directed toward them by established council members highlights the fierce partisan battles over the direction of growing towns.
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