favor of Beckham. Kentuckian John Marshall Harlan authored the lone dissent from the majority opinion, claiming that the court did have jurisdiction and should have found in favor of Taylor based on his claim of loss of property without due process. He further argued that elective office fell under the definition of "liberty" as used in the Fourteenth Amendment and was protected by due process. Background History In 1898, the Kentucky General Assembly enacted a law which created a Board of Election Commissioners, appointed by the General Assembly, who were responsible for choosing election commissioners in all of Kentucky's counties. The board was empowered to examine election returns and certify the results. The power to decide the outcome of disputed elections remained with the General Assembly under Section 153 of the state constitution. The law was commonly referred to as the Goebel Election Law, a reference to its sponsor, President Pro Tempore of the Kentucky Senate William Goebel. Because the General Assembly was heavily Democratic and Goebel was considered a likely Democratic aspirant for the governorship in the 1899 election, the law was attacked as blatantly partisan and self-serving. Republicans organized a test case against the law, but the Kentucky Court of Appeals upheld it as constitutional. Goebel secured the Democratic nomination for governor at a contentious nominating convention. Despite the nominations of two minor party candidates – including that of former governor John Y. Brown by a dissident faction of Democrats – the race centered on Goebel and his Republican opponent, Attorney General William S. Taylor. The results of the election were too close to call for several days. Before the official results could be announced, charges of voting irregularities began. In Nelson County, 1,200 ballots listed the Republican candidate as "W. P. Taylor" instead of "W. S. Taylor"; Democrats claimed these votes should be invalidated. In Knox and Johnson counties, voters complained of "thin tissue ballots" that allowed the voter's choices to be seen through them. In the city of Louisville, Democrats charged that the militia had intimidated voters there and that the entire city's vote should be invalidated. When the official tally was announced, Taylor had won by a vote of 193,714 to 191,331. Though the Board of Elections was thought to be controlled by Goebel allies, it voted 2–1 to certify the announced vote tally. The board's majority opinion claimed that they did not have any