Charles Mix board orders county-seat question for Geddes after months-long canvass

The Charles Mix County Board of Commissioners voted on Aug. 5, 1908 to submit the question of moving the county seat from Wheeler to Geddes to the voters at the next general election.

The decision followed a multi-week canvass that began in mid-April and continued through late July and early August. The board reviewed competing petitions from Lake Andes, Geddes and Platte, checked for duplicate names and withdrawals, heard testimony from petition representatives and examined disputed voter names. The board recorded that the Geddes petition, after deducting duplicates and withdrawals, contained 2,026 valid names; the board found the Lake Andes petition had 1,568 valid names and therefore did not constitute a majority of the county’s registered voters.

Board records show the canvass included checking withdrawals and doubtful names and allowing both sides to present evidence and argument before the board made its formal finding and order. The board’s order directs the county auditor to prepare separate ballots as provided by law so that electors may cast votes on the removal question at the upcoming general election.

The board’s minutes show the action was the culmination of numerous hearings and canvassing sessions held in Wheeler, Geddes and Lake Andes beginning April 14 and continuing through an adjourned hearing period into early August. The minutes do not record a roll-call vote for the final order but indicate the board adopted the finding and order following the evidentiary hearings and canvass.

The next procedural step recorded in the minutes was administrative: the auditor was instructed to prepare ballots and to carry out the statutory steps necessary to place the question before county voters at the next general election.