Plan E Committee Plans to File Papers for Referendum Recount

Papers demanding a recount on the Plan E referendum will be filed today by the Committee for Plan E, it was learned exclusively last night.

Meanwhile the final returns from the Ninth Congressional district showed that Robert M. Luce had beatedn his Democratic opponent, Thomas H. Eliot '28, by 3,196 votes, tallying 68,148 to 64,952.

If the petition is acted on and the count made it will be at least four days before the results are known.

Loses by 1294 Votes

Final returns on the referendum gave 21,182 'No' votes to 20,188 'Yes' votes, a margin or defeat of 1,294. Approximately 5,700 ballots had no vote on the Plan E charter question. The total registration for election was 52,000.

Work on the filling out of petitions to the Board of Election Commissioners in Cambridge will be in progress throughout the day. Ten registered voters in each ward of the city are required by law to sign the recount petition.

Several forces were at work on Tuesday which helped to defeat the Plan E charter, it has been reliably learned. Among them were the liquor interests which had women workers at each of the precincts, ranging in number from two to four.

Liquor Interests at Work

All three liquor questions passed by large majorities, allowing the sale of liquor in the city and sales in taverns as well as package stores. Considerable swapping of votes was done, with votes for the liquor questions traded against anti-Plan E votes.

Another factor which worked against the adoption of the charter was that polling took place in fire-stations in eight precincts in the city. Firemen are employees in the city. Firemen are employees of the city, a group which has expressed considerable opposition exerted influence against it as the balloting went on.

Vigorous Campaign Used

Furthermore, it is claimed, cars and trucks bearing hostile signs were allowed to park nearer to the polls than the legal 150 foot limit without interference from the police, and appeals to the constabulary went unheeded.

The nucleus of the Plan E organization will probably be kept if the recount fails to change the verdict, and the charter will undoubtedly be brought before the electorate in 1940.

Fifty speakers have been used by the Committee for Plan E in their campaign, and they have also done a great deal of house-to-house canvassing. A sound-film explaining the working of the city-manager and proportional representation system of government has been shown at all times of the day in a room in Central Square.