70 Wash. 343 | Wash. | 1912
On August 31, 1912, a petition, signed by one hundred qualified electors of the town of Winlock, Lewis county, was filed with the clerk of that municipality. The petition, including the first signature, reads as follows:
“Petition for a Municipal Local Option Election.
“To the Honorable Clerk of the Town of Winlock, County of Lewis, State of Washington:
“We, the undersigned, qualified electors of the town of Winlock, county of Lewis, state of Washington,, do hereby respectfully petition and request you to order, give notice of and prepare for the submission of the question whether the sale of intoxicating liquor shall be licensed and permitted within the said town of Winlock, to the qualified electors thereof, at the next general county election to be held in*344 said town of Winlock, to wit, on the fifth day of November, 1912.
“This petition is signed and filed, and this request made in accordance with and under and by the authority of the provisions of chapter 81, of the 1909 session laws of the state of Washington, approved by the governor, March 12th, 1909.
“Name Post office Ward — Precinct & Date of Address House No. if any Signing.
“Sarah Sweeny Winlock, Wn. Aug. 13, 1912.”
All other signatures were appended in the same manner. On September 10, 1912, W. H. Crouse, an elector of Win-lock, commenced an action in the superior court of Lewis county against L. R. Quillen, clerk of the town of Winlock, to restrain him from publishing notice of the election. The defect in the petition upon which the plaintiff relied as grounds for an injunction was alleged as follows:
“That the said petition so filed with said clerk of the town of Winlock, Lewis county, Washington, is void, illegal, and of no effect in the respects and for the reasons following, to wit: . . . That none of the signers of said petition stated their precinct within which they resided in connection with their signature, and that none of said signers of said petition have named the street and the house number, if any, in connection with their signature thereon where the said signer of said petition resided at the date upon which said elector signed said petition.”
The town clerk for an affirmative defense alleged, that the town of Winlock is a municipal corporation of the fourth class, in Lewis county, state of Washington; that but one voting precinct or polling place is included within the corporate limits; that it is not divided into wards or voting precincts ; that no system has been adopted for numbering the houses and residences within the corporation, and that the houses therein are not numbered. The trial court found that the petition was subscribed by qualified electors of the unit equal in number to more than thirty per cent of the electors voting at the last general election; that it designated the town of Winlock in Lewis county, Washington, as the place in
The only theory on which the petition was held invalid was that the electors all failed to write opposite their signatures the name of the precincts in which they reside, or the street and house numbers of their respective residences. Section 3 of chapter 81, page 153, Laws 1901 (Rem. & Bal. Code, § 6294), relative to petitions for local option elections, provides that:
“Such petition shall designate the unit in which the election is desired to be had, the date upon which the election is desired to be held, and the question that is desired to be submitted. The persons signing such a petition shall state their postoffice address, the name of the precinct in which they reside, and in case the subscriber be a resident of a city, the street and house number, if any, of his residence, and the date of signature. Said petition shall be filed not less than sixty days nor more than ninety days prior to the date upon which the election is desired to be held. No' signature shall be valid unless the above requirements are complied with, and unless the date of signing the same is less than ninety days preceding the date of filing.”
It is manifest that the purpose and intention of this statute was to require each petitioner to give such information rela
The judgment is reversed, and the action dismissed.
Mount, C. J., Parker, and Morris, JJ., concur.