office, respectively, and the announcement thereof, deliver to the police officer on duty at such place of canvass a statement subscribed by the board of inspectors, stating the number of votes received by each candidate for such office. Such statement shall forthwith be conveyed by the said officer to the station-house of the police precinct in which such place of canvass is located, and he shall deliver the same inviolate to the officer in command thereof, who shall immediately transmit by telegraph, telephone or messenger, the contents of such statement to the officer commanding the police department of such city. Such statement shall be preserved for six months by the police, and shall be presumptive evidence of the result of such canvass for each such office.

Where no objection has been made to the ballots as marked for identification, they should be destroyed. People ex rel. Bush v. Board, etc., 48 State Rep. 791; 66 Hun, 265. In providing for the preservation of ballots, challenged as marked for identification, the law has provided certain safeguards to identify the ballots and prevent imposition and fraud. In addition to having written upon them the words "objected to because marked for identification," or words in substance to that effect, it also requires that each inspector shall sign his name thereto. Id. The purpose of this is obvious. Id. And where ballots not objected to at the time of being canvassed, are preserved in violation of law, out of the possession of the officers. the court will not direct them to be attached to the statement of canvass. Id.

§ 111. Original statement of canvass and certified copies.— Upon the completion of the canvass, the board of inspectors of election shall make and sign an original statement thereof showing the kind of election, the date when held; the number of the election district; the town or ward, and the city and county in which it was held, on the first page or pages of which there shall be return of the ballots voted, following which there shall be a separate return for each office of the votes cast for each candidate therefor in the form prescribed for such returns and statement in section eighty-four of the election law. At the end of the last detailed statement of votes cast for candidates, they shall add a statement of the number of general ballots protested as "marked for identification," which ballots shall be endorsed by the inspectors "protested as marked for identification," specifying the mark or marking to which objection is made over their signatures, and all of which shall be counted for the several candidates voted for thereon. The inspectors shall also make as a part of their original statement a return of the number of void ballots rejected by them, and on such ballots no vote can be counted for any candidate. Each such ballot so declared void by the

inspectors shall be endorsed upon the back thereof with the specific reason for such rejection. Such void ballots shall, together with the ballots which were protested as being marked for identification be secured in a separate sealed package, which shall be indorsed on the outside thereof with the names of the inspectors, the designation of the election district, and the number and kind of ballots contained therein. Such package shall be filed by the chairman of the board of inspectors with the original statement of the canvass. If ballots are voted on any constitutional amendment, proposition or question, a similar return of the ballots and votes cast thereon shall be made and included as a part of such original statement. Such inspectors shall, whenever unofficial ballots are voted, return all of such ballots in the package with the void and protested ballots. At the end of each return contained in such original statement of the canvass, and also at the bottom of each sheet, or half sheet thereof, the inspectors shall make and sign a certificate that the foregoing statement is correct. If any inspector, poll clerk or ballot clerk shall refuse to sign any return required of him by the election law he must state the grounds upon which such refusal is based upon such return over his signature. Unless such an election be an election of town, village or school officers, held at a different time from a general election, such inspectors shall forthwith and before adjourning and taking any recess make two certified copies of such original certified statement of the result of the canvass. Forthwith upon the completion of such original statement and of such certified copies thereof, and the proclamation of the result of the election as to each can lidate, the ballots voted, except the void and protested ballots, shall be replaced in the box from which they were taken, together with a statement as to the number of such ballots so replaced. Each such box shall be securely locked and sealed, and shall be deposited with the officer or board furnishing such boxes. They shall be preserved inviolate for six months after such election and may be opened and their contents examined upon the order of the supreme court or a justice thereof, or a county judge of such county, and at the expiration of such time the ballots may be disposed of in the discretion of the officer or board having charge of them.

§ 112. Proclamation of result. Upon the completion of such canvass and of the original statement and certified copies of the

result thereof, the chairman of the board of inspectors shall make public oral proclamation of the whole number of votes cast at such election at such polling place for all candidates for each office; upon each proposed constitutional amendment or other question or proposition, if any, voted upon at such election; the whole number of votes given for each person, with the title of the office for which he was named on the ballot; and the whole number of votes given respectively for and against each proposed constitutional amendment or other question or proposition, if any, so submitted. The original statement of canvass and the certified copies thereof shall be securely and separately sealed with sealing wax in an envelope properly indorsed on the outside thereof by the inspectors, and shall be kept inviolate by the officers or board with whom they are filed until delivered, together with the sealed packages of void and protested ballots, to the county or city board of canvassers.

Where the legislature has prescribed a mode in which the result of an election shall be determined and declared, the election is not complete until the provisions of the statute have been complied with. People v. Crissey, 91 N. Y. 616.

113. Delivery and filing of papers relating to the election.If the election be other than an election of town, city, village or school officers, held at a different time from a general election, the chairman of the board of inspectors of each election district, except in the cities of New York and Brooklyn, shall forthwith, upon the completion of such certified original statement of the result, deliver one certified copy thereof to the supervisor of the town in which the election, if outside of a city, is situated, and if in a city, to one of the supervisors of such city. If there be no supervisor, or he be absent or unable to attend the meeting of the county board of canvassers, such certified copy shall be forthwith delivered to an assessor of such town or city. One certified copy of such original statement of the result of the canvass, the poll-books of such election, and one of the tally sheets, shall be forthwith filed by such inspectors, or by one of them deputed for that purpose, with the town clerk of such town, or the city clerk of such city, as the case may be. The original certified statement of the result of the canvass, with the original ballot return prepared by the ballot clerk attached, the sealed package of void and protested ballots, the record as to challenged and assisted voters, and the sealed packages of detached stubs and unvoted ballots, and one of the tally sheets shall, within twenty-four

hours after the completion of such canvass, be filed by the chairman of the board of inspectors, with the county clerk of the county in which the election district is situated. The register of electors and public copy thereof shall be filed as prescribed in section thirty-five of the election law. In the city of New York, the original statement of canvass and the sealed package of void, and protested ballots, shall be filed within twelve hours after the completion of the canvass, with the board of police commissioners, together with one of the poll-books, and one of the tally sheets, properly certified by the poll clerks. One certified copy of such original statement, one poll-book and one tally sheet shall be filed within such time with the county clerk of New York county, and the other certified copy of such original statement with the clerk of the board of aldermen. In the city of Brooklyn, the original statement of canvass, the sealed package of void and protested ballots, one of the poll-books and one of the tally sheets, properly certified by the poll clerks, shall be filed within twelve hours after the completion of the canvass with the board of elections, one of the certified copies of the original statement of the canvass, one poll-book and one tally sheet shall be filed within such time in the office of the county clerk of Kings county, and the other certified copy of such original statement with the commissioner of police of the city of Brooklyn. The sealed packages of detached stubs, and ballots not used at the election, shall, in the cities of New York and Brooklyn, be given by the inspectors to the police, who shall return them to the board of police in the city of New York, and to the board of elections in the city of Brooklyn. All such packages of detached stubs and unused ballots shall be preserved inviolate in the office in which they are filed, for a period of six months from the time of filing thereof, and may be opened and examined upon the order of the supreme court or a justice thereof, or a county judge within such county, and at the expiration of such time may be disposed of in the discretion of the officer or board having custody of the same.

§ 114. Judicial investigation of ballots. If any certified original statement of the result of the canvass in an election district shall show that any of the ballots counted at an election therein were objected to as marked for identification, a writ of mandamus may, upon the application of any candidate voted for at such election in such district, within twenty days thereafter, issue out of the supreme court to the board or body of canvassers, if any, of the return of the inspectors of such election

district, and otherwise to the inspectors of election making such statement requiring a recount of the votes on such ballots. If the court shall, in the proceedings upon such writ, determine that any such ballot was marked for the purpose of identification, the court shall order such ballot and the votes thereon to be excluded upon a recount of such votes. A like writ may in the same manner be issued to determine whether any ballot and the votes thereon which has been rejected by the inspectors as void, shall be counted. If in the proceedings upon such writ the court shall determine that the votes upon any such ballot rejected as void shall be counted, the court shall order such ballot and the votes thereon to be counted upon a recount of such votes. Boards of inspectors of election districts, and boards of canvassers, shall continue in office for the purpose of such proceedings.

The court ought not to grant a mandamus to compel the issuing of a certificate of election to one who has no right under the constitution to the office. Matter of Sherwood v. State Board, etc., 129 N. Y., 360.

To authorize the inspectors to attach the ballots to the statement of result, the first thing to be done is that some election officer or watcher should declare his belief that the ballot has been marked for identification. People, ex rel. Bush, v. Board, etc., 48 State Rep'r, 791; 66 Hun, 265. Uniess this is done, they are neither authorized nor required to attach such ballots to the statement.

Id.

It was held in People, ex rel. Bradley, v. Shaw, 133 N. Y. 493; 45 State Rep'r, 866, that where the objection was not taken before the board of town canvassers that the ballots were marked for identification, the court could not consider that objection afterwards. This was a case where, upon a paster ballot for town officers, there was also printed the name of the office of excise commissioner and of the candidates therefor. The objection was made that they were defective "in that they contained the name of an office and a candidate therefor that was not upon the official ballots, and could not be properly on the same ticket with the other town officers." Subsequently, it was claimed that they were marked ballots, but the court held that that question was not before it.

Ballots, alleged to have been marked for identification, can only be marked by the inspectors during the canvass, and it is improper for them, or a single one of them, afterwards to so mark and attach such ballots to the statement of canvass. People, ex rel. Bush, v. Board, etc., ante.

This section provides for the performance of several acts preliminary to the proceeding by mandamus: (1) An inspector or other election officer or duly authorized watcher must, during a canvass, or immediately after its completion, in substance, declare to the inspectors his belief that the ballot or paster was written upon, or marked for identification. (2) The inspectors must write their names on the back of such ballot and attach it to the original certificate of canvass. (3) They must include in such certificate a statement of the specific grounds upon which the validity of such ballot was questioned. (4) The board of county canvassers, or other officers performing similar duties, must mention separately, in the state ment or certificate of canvass made by them, the number of votes thus questioned which were cast for each candidate and tue specific ground upon which the same were claimed to be invalid as set forth in the original certificate of canvass. Peo. ple, ex rel. Hasbrouck, v. Board, etc., 48 State Rep'r, 533. The questions arise: Are all these preliminary acts matters of substance which are required absolutely to be performed before a candidate can proceed by writ of mandamus? And can the inspectors of election, or the board of county canvassers, prevent or defeat the proceedings by mandamus by neglecting or purposely omitting to write their names upon the ballots or to make the required statements? Id. The proper