“City’s Election in 1922 Was Longest in History” from the April 5, 1962 Door County Advocate
City’s Election in 1922 Was Longest in History
In the city election Tuesday all the results were known within about two hours after the polls closed, a far cry from the situation in the spring election 40 years ago when the results did not become final until 10 days after the election. The city election on April 4, 1922 was the most drawn-out election in Sturgeon Bay history, not ending until April 4 when recounts for mayor, treasurer, assessor and first ward alderman were completed.
The recounts resulted in only one reversal, that being in the first ward where Harry Y. Greene, father of Stanley Greene who was defeated for mayor in the election Tuesday, was elected alderman after the first count indicated that Frank J. Moeller had been elected.
Some of the delay in determining the final election results came because the first ward election records were locked in a safe that could not be opened.
After the counting of the first ward ballots on the night of election day, the chairman of the precinct election officers put the records in the safe in his place of business. The next day the safe could not be opened, defying all the local “experts” who attempted to open it. The city council met that day to canvass the vote but could not do so be cause the first ward records were missing.
The Advocate reported, “The canvass must be completed within one week of election, and it will be necessary to secure the documents in the safe if it is necessary to blow it up.”
Finally, on Friday, Apr. 7 the canvassing of the vote was completed after the safe had been opened by drilling around the combination lock.
According to the original count Frank J. Moeller had defeated Harry Y. Greene for the first ward alderman by a vote of 297 to 267, but Greene asked for a recount after noticing that according to the election figures 72 more votes had been cast in his ward for mayor than for alderman.
And Greene was right in his contention that a mistake had been made. In the recount Moeller lost only one vote but Greene picked up 54, making the latter the victor.
That brought about a complicated situation. The vote had been canvassed and certified and Moeller had been declared elected prior to the recount on April 13.
However, technical difficulties were cleared up and Greene took office as alderman on April 18.
The result of the Greene recount brought a rash of requests for recounts, candidates feeling that perhaps other mistakes had been made by the election officials.
However, there were no other reversals although there was some slight changes in the final tallies when recounts for mayor, treasurer and assessor were made on April 14, the last day for having a recount.
Mrs. Lillian McDonald, who had won the treasurer’s job by one vote over William Stephan, picked up eight votes in the recount.
James G. Martin retained his comfortable margin over incumbent John Boler in the mayoralty contest. In this case there was a recount only in the second and third wards.
Henry Reynolds maintained substantial lead for assessor in the recount. He was opposed by Ben DeFaut and H. Martin Hanson.
The errors made by election officials in that city election 40 years ago were attributed by the Advocate to the clamor raised by the public to know the election results as soon as the polls closed, the election boards therefore adopting methods of their own to get the counting done as quickly as possible.
But in this case haste made waste and resulted in the most protracted election in city history.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
[This article may be drawing from https://doorcounty.substack.com/p/recount-completed-from-the-april. ]
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