Wheeler v. Caldwell’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

14 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 14 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. ““The legality of a large number of defectively marked ballots was challenged. In the counting of such ballots the [district] court adopted what may be called a very liberal rule. It said: “ ‘Upon the trial, when the various numbered votes (those numbered by the stenographer) were taken from the wires and examined, many of them for the plaintiff Caldwell had crosses in the proper places, but the crosses were not always made with two single lines, and in many instances there would be one or more additional lines, but they appeared to be so made simply for a desire on the voter’s part and in the effort on his part to make a cross with lines so distinct and plain that his vote should not be overlooked from lack of plainness; and in many instances one or more arms of the cross would extend somewhat over the circle—that is, outside—or outside the squares, whichever form of voting was used, and this was apparently due either to haste or carelessness on the part of the voter; in some instances the marks were ill made, due to nervousness, or to the fact that the hand making them trembled with age- or was unused to a pencil. What has been said in this finding with reference to ballots voted for Caldwell is equally true as to many ballots voted for Wheeler, and the number of ballots so marked was probably about equal in number and in the character of their markings on both sides, and the court in counting such ballots has intended to and did count for the person for whom they were marke”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage · from the majority
   e.g. Wall v. Pierpont