131 Ga. 320 | Ga. | 1908
An election was held under the provisions of an act of the General Assembly, approved August 1, 1906 (Acts 1906, page 114), to determine the question as to whether the sale of intoxicating liquors through dispensaries should be prohibited in. the county of Terrell. The election was ordered by the ordinary, and held in accordance -with the provisions of the act above referred to. The ordinary declared the result of the election “to be in favor of the prohibition of the sale of intoxicating liquors through dispensaries in said county.” Whereupon a contest was instituted in the superior court, the petition setting forth certain grounds as to the “cause of contest.” The ordinary was named as
After -a careful consideration of the allegations, which are in substance as set forth above, we are of the opinion that the court did not err in holding that portion of the petition to be demurrable. In order for the paragraph containing the allegations above set forth in substance to have been a good and valid ground of contest, it should, in addition to the averments set 'forth, have been alleged that the voters who were alleged to have been’ qualified, and who, it is alleged, wen* to the polling places to vote, and who, it is further alleged, tendered their ballots, actually went to the polling places at which they were entitled to vote. This is nowhere alleged in the petition, and this paragraph is attacked by demurrer on that ground. The votes of the 700 persons whose names are set forth, had they been regularly cast and counted, would have changed the result of the election had they voted “for the dispensaries,” as it is alleged in the petition they would have done. But in order for it to appear that the ballots of those persons were illegally rejected, it should have been averred that they offered to vote at that precinct at which, under the law, they were entitled to vote; and the failure of the petitioners to allege that
Holding that the portions of the petition which we have dealt with above were demurrable, the petition set forth no good and valid grounds of contest, and there was no error in dismissing the petition on demurrer.
Judgment affirmed.