246 Pa. 284 | Pa. | 1914
Opinion by
This was a proceeding in equity to set aside a special election authorizing an increase in the indebtedness of the defendant borough. After hearing, the court below dismissed the bill; the plaintiffs have appealed.
The appellants contend that the election returns should have been counted by the Court of Common Pleas of the district in which the defendant borough is located. As to this, the trial judge states: “It is admitted that the returns of the election held June 24, 1913, for the purpose of obtaining the assent of the electors of Coudersport Borough to- an increase of indebtedness were not canvassed or counted by any court. ......The law does not require the counting or canvassing of election returns for elections to increase borough indebtedness, as is very clearly and forcibly stated in Steelton Boro. Election, 22 Pa. C. C. R. 593, and
The next, and principal, ground of complaint concerns the printing of the ballot. The appellants contend that, “The official ballots used at the said election were not such ballots as the acts of assembly in such cases provide shall be used by the electors, as they were not printed on paper of sufficient thickness to prevent the printed matter from showing through.” In this connection, the trial court found, (1) That a large majority of the electors voted in favor of the increase in indebtedness; (2) “That the ballots used at said election were printed by the commissioners of the County of Potter and were not of sufficient thickness to prevent the printed matter showing through”; (3) That, “There was no complaint before or at the election by any elector, that the paper on which the ballots were printed was not of sufficient thickness to prevent the printed matter showing through; nor was any elector embarrassed or influenced in the exercise of his franchise in any manner by the ballot not having the opaqueness required by the act of assembly.”
The 15th section of the Act of june 10, 1893, P. L. 419, provides that, “All the ballots used......shall be printed on white paper..... ..of sufficient thickness to prevent the printed matter from showing through...... When it is shown by affidavits that mistakes or omissions have occurred in the publication of names or description of candidates, or in the printing of the ballots, the Court of Common Pleas......may upon the application of any qualified elector......require the county commissioners to correct the mistake......” This act further provides that the county commissioners shall have printed the “official and......sample ballots (the
In addition to the findings already stated, an examination of the testimony shows that, prior to the election, “sample ballots” were on file at the county commissioners’ office; and, in the absence of testimony to the contrary, since other requirements of the law would make it necessary, we must assume that these, as well as the official ballots, were in the possession of the commissioners for at least a sufficient number of days before the election to have enabled any interested person to ascertain the fault now complained of, and, if necessary, to proceed for its cure under the Act of 1893, supra. We find nothing in the election laws forbidding a proper examination, in the presence of the commissioners, of the sample ballots, or even of the official ballots, by one possessing the right to participate or having an interest in the result of an election about to be held; and a reading of the Act of 1893, supra, plainly indicates that the legislature intended an opportunity for such an examination, otherwise the remedy therein given to rectify mistakes in the ballot, prior to the holding of elections, would be nugatory and of no avail.
In treating of the phase of the case now before us, the trial judge states, “The reason for equity jurisdiction in cases of this character is inadequacy of the remedy provided by law......No remedy could be more complete and adequate than the informal and summary proceedings provided by the statute. Had the plaintiffs availed themselves of this remedy, any complaint as to the un
Of course, had the statute expressly provided that a mistake of the character of the one here complained of, should invalidate an election, the rule of Foy’s App., 228 Pa. 14, would apply; but in that instance while the election was declared void, yet, we recognized the principle that even in the presence of an express statutory mandate, a judge should be most careful in exercising his power to annul an election, saying, (p. 19), “A court ought always to be slow to set aside an election...... but when the legislature has ordained that under a certain state of facts it shall so act, and such facts plainly appear upon the record, the duty is clear, and there should be no hesitation about declaring the election invalid;”
The several Pennsylvania authorities relied upon by the appellants are on their facts so plainly distinguishable from the case at bar that they do not call for discussion, but, we may add that the question of the remedy given by the Act of 1893, supra, does not seem to have been raised or passed upon in any of them; it is not necessary to. consider the point that this remedy is confined to “qualified electors,” for the plaintiffs ex
The assignments of error are overruled, and the decree is affirmed at the cost of the appellants.