It shall be the duty of the judges of such elections in the different townships to make returns thereof to the clerks of the county commissions of their respective counties, within two days after such election, which clerks shall, within eight days after they receive such returns, certify and transmit the same to the governor, by delivering them into the nearest post office on the most direct route to the seat of government. If there shall be a failure to receive any of the returns at the seat of government for one mail after the same is due, the secretary of state may dispatch a messenger to the county not returned, with directions to bring up said returns to the governor.