No list, tally paper or certificate returned from any election shall be set aside or rejected for want of form if it can be satisfactorily understood. If, at the time of the meeting, the returns of each precinct in which polls have been opened have been received, the board of directors must then and there proceed to canvass the returns; but if all the returns have not been received, the canvass must be postponed from day to day until all the returns have been received, or until six (6) postponements have been had. The canvass must be made in public and by opening the returns and counting the vote of the district for each person voted for and declaring the result thereof.