81 Wash. 18 | Wash. | 1914
Under the provisions of Rem. & Bal. Code, §§ 3869, 3872 (P. C. 115 §§ 239, 347), M. L. Hamilton, the present incumbent, was elected from district No. 2, in November, 1912, and later qualified, as county commissioner of King county for the four-year term ending in January, 1917. On July 13, 1914, the relator, Richard Gowan, who is an elector and' resident of district No. 2, prepared and, for filing, offered to the auditor of King county, together with the legal filing fee, his declaration of candidacy for the office of county commissioner for that district, for the primary election to be held on September 8, 1914, so that if nominated he might be a candidate for such office at the general election to be held in November, 1914. The auditor declined this tender, and refused to file the declaration of candidacy. Thereupon, the relator applied to the superior court of King county for a writ of mandamus to compel the auditor to accept and file the declaration of candidacy. Answering the show cause order, the auditor pleaded the fact that M. L. Hamilton had been elected as county commissioner from district No. 2 at the November election in 1912, for the four-year term; that he had duly qualified, and that his term of office will not expire until 1917. To this affirmative answer, the relator interposed a demurrer, which was overruled by the trial judge. The relator refused to plead further, his application was dismissed, and he has brought the order of dismissal to this court for review by writ of certiorari.
The relator insists that the sections above cited, in so far as they provide that, at the biennial election, one commissioner shall be chosen for four years, are in violation of the constitution of the state of Washington; that no commissioner can be lawfully elected for a longer term than two years, and that a commissioner should therefore be elected this year from district No. 2. Relator concedes that his contention is
The judgment is affirmed.
Mount, Fullerton, Morris, and Parker, JJ., concur. ■