112 Ga. 308 | Ga. | 1900
An election under the “local option liquor law” was held in Spalding county on the 19th day of October, 1899. Before the result was declared by the ordinary, certain citizens of the county instituted before him a contest. Thereupon Drake and others sought to prohibit him from entertaining the 'same. The case thus arising came to this court, and it was therein decided that: “Under the provisions of the ‘local option liquor law,’ embodied in section 1541 et seq. of the Political Code, the ordinary has the power, and it is his duty, before declaring the result of an election held under that law, to entertain and pass upon a contest respecting such election which may be presented to him by any qualified voter or voters of the county wherein the same was held, and his jurisdiction extends to a decision of all questions and grounds of contest affecting the validity of the election or its result, thus brought to his attention. It follows that the superior court has no jurisdiction or authority to prohibit the ordinary from performing the duties thus imposed upon him by the statute.” Drake v. Drewry, 109 Ga. 399. Afterwards the contest was heard by the ordinary, and he declared that the election resulted “against the sale.” A petition for the purpose of impeaching his conduct and having the result of the election declared by the superior court was then filed in that court by Drake and many others, who alleged that they “constituted one tenth of the number of voters having voted at said election.” The judgfe granted an order for a recount of the ballots, but, at the appearance term of the case, sustained a motion to revoke the same, and dismissed the petition on demurrer. A bill of exceptions was sued out by the petitioners, and the material questions thereby presented for our decision are those indicated by the headnotes.
The foregoing brief summary of some of the provisions of the registration law will suffice to render clear the application to our present question of certain other provisions of that law appearing in sections 54, 55, and 56. of the Political Code. We quote the first of these three sections entire. It reads as follows: “ All names appearing on the lists taken from the voters books, and not appearing on the list of disqualified voters, shall be ■ entered on the list of "registered voters/ unless withheld therefrom as hereinafter provided. No name appearing on the list of disqualified voters shall be entered on the list of registered voters, unless placed thereon as hereinafter provided. A name appearing on the list taken from the voters books, and not appearing on the list of disqualified voters aforesaid, shall be withheld from the list of registered voters when the county registrars are convinced by sufficient legal proof that such person is, in fact, not qualified to vote. A name appearing on the list of disqualified voters shall be entered on the list of
Sections 55 and 56 provide machinery for the obtaining and introduction of evidence before the registrars. In the former it is provided that they may hear testimony “concerning the removal of the disqualification of any person whose name appears on the list of disqualified voters ”; and in the latter they are given the power to require the production of books and papers “for the purpose of determining the qualification of persons as aforesaid.” If persons who have registered and whose names are placed on the list of disqualified voters may lawfully pursue the course above indicated, certainly those who have registered and who have not been returned as “disqualified,” but whose right to have their names placed upon the list of registered voters is questioned by the registrars, may do
There can, of course, be no doubt that those whose names are placed on that list and who are in fact qualified voters have the right to vote; and if so, it follows that their votes ought to be counted. It was in the argument here strenuously urged that the ■General Assembly could not have intended that a man who swore falsely and thus unlawfully got bis name on the voters book should thereafter have the right to remove his disqualification and become a legal voter. To allow this would, it was contended, put a premium on crime and open the way to indiscriminate and corrupt registration. We are nevertheless constrained to hold that the legislature has declared that just such a man shall have such a right; and it is not difficult to suggest good reasons why the lawmaking power should have done so. It does not follow that a man who falsely took the voter’s oath necessarily did so in bad faith. It is easy to suppose that one might do this in the honest belief that he was neither a tax defaulter nor otherwise incompetent to vote. The General Assembly might very justly have thought that in a case of this land the person registering ought not to be deprived of the privilege of subsequently qualifying and exercising the elective franchise. It may also have concluded that whether a man who Tegistered took the oath honestly or corruptly, it would be a wise policy to grant this privilege; for the principal cause of disqualification is non-payment of taxes, and allowing the defaulter to pay up so as to obtain the right to vote could very properly be regarded as a good revenue measure. As to the danger of too much looseness in registration, it may be remarked that the penal statute against false swearing in order to register (Penal Code, § 625) is appli
It results from the conclusions above expressed that the court erred in vacating the order for a recount of the ballots and in dismissing the petition.
Judgment reversed.