Returning Boards

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

2026 Editor's Note: This page uses language about race that was commonplace when the book was published and is offensive by today's standards. The text has been left exactly as it was printed, rather than cut or softened, so that the historical record — including how ordinary such language once was — is preserved. (Ed: ET 2026-07-22) boards formed to canvass votes cast in an election. They were created in some of the reconstructed States a few years after the close of the Civil War, for the purpose of rectifying fraud or violence that might be practiced on the negroes at the polls. In 1868 Arkansas established the first returning board. South Carolina, Louisiana and Florida had similar boards. The result of the presidential election of 1876 depended on the action of these State boards. In Louisiana and in Florida, the boards declared the election of Republican electors. The Circuit Court of Florida, rejecting the report of the board, decided in favor of the Democratic electors, and the Legislatures also authorized the governor to grant them certificates, the result being that three sets of certificates were made out and sent to Washington. The Electoral Commission accepted the Republican returns as the only ones regular in form. In South Carolina, Nov. 22, 1876, the Supreme Court of the State ordered the board not to carry its judicial authority into effect in counting the votes. The board, however, declared declared in favor of the Republican electors. The various returning boards were successively abolished by the respective State legislatures.