Case Information
*1 OROVER SELLERS 1
W-
Hontwable limier L. #Ions
County Attamey
Wheeler County
Wheeler, Texas opinion i?o. 0-6054
Dear Sir8 Ret Vader
the frcts,submitted
and under Artlales 3111 ver130~~n Bnnota- ted Civil Statutes, doe8 the Chairman of the Whuteler County Democrat10 Executive Committee have tha right to certify the name of the ap- plioant em a oandldate for the oftLee of State Repre- sentative in and fer said aounty?
Thin will acknewledge reoelpt et your letter, dated May 20th, whlei~ reada, In part, a6 tellers:
tt . . .
"Hr. Grump a6 ChaIrman of the County Exeeu- tlve Demooratic cemmlttee has reaeived an appll- aatien from one Hr. R. L. Templeton for a plaoe on the ballot tobe Peed by and for Wheeler Coun- ty In the oorlng iirst Demeeratla primary. Mr.
Templeton la a oandldate for the offloe of Repre- sentative.
"Hr. Grump advises that there Is no district exeautive aommittee and the filinga in such paoes are made with the four county ahalrmen respeatlve- 1Y. In.the aase at hand no form of auknowledgment or verification appears on the application. Matur- ally, Mr. Grump is anxious to have you pas8 upon this matter at your earliest eonvenlence, if' at all practical. There being no exact preoedent by aourt decision to the knowledge or either the chairman OF I, it appears very Important that the former have the benefit of an opinion from you or gour staff In order th&t a generally satisfactory action on his part may performed.
1, " . . . .
Honorable Homer L. Roes, page 2
We further set forth the application in question as disclosed by your enoloaed brlefr
"R. L. Templeton WellIngton, Texan *To thb:&halrman of the Damooratla Rxecutlve Committee In f'or Wheeler County; Texast' "Dear Slrt
"I hereby make applloatlon to have my name placed on the ballot to be used at the Democratia for the seleotian of Democratlo nominees Primary for State amd CeumtJr effioas at the election to be held throughout the State on July 22nd, 1944 as a candidate bar the offlee of' State Representative fer the 122nd Representative Mstrlot of Texas, aempoaed of Uelllmgsworth, Wheeler, Gray and Donleg Counties.
"In connection therewith I hereby enalose the sum 6f $1.00, flllng fee.
"I am twenty-four year6 of age and was born In Wellington, Colllngsworth County, Texas, where I have resided and had my oltlxenship all of my life. I am a Democrat and pledge avself to sup- port the nominees of the Demcbaratla Primary.
"Respeotisllly submitted, R. L. Templeton (In writing) (signature) R. L. Templgton (typed) Poet office address; Texas. " Wellington, Articles 3111 and 3112, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statatee, respectfailly provides
"The request tar have the name of any person affillatlng with any party plaoed on the official ballot for a genera3 primary as a oandidkt&?f'dr; the nomination of' suoh pafty for any State offiae shall be governed by the following:
“1. Suoh request shall be In writing signed and duly acknowledged by the person deslrlng swoh notilnation, or by twe)nty-i'lve qnaliiled voters.
Zt shall state the ooanpation, oountg oi residence *3 Honorable Homer &. M~BB, paSe 3
and post-office address of m~h pereen, and if made by him shall aleo state his age.
“2 Amy suoh request ehall be filed with the State &airman mot later than the first Wonday la Jume preeedlrg rlnah prinrry, shall be aoneidered filed if aent to suoh oh8lz!man at hia port-offloe addrem by reglatered mall from'uy point In thin State.
" . . ..* (mlphqeis aurs)
"Amy peraom desiring his mame to’appear on the offlalal balZi&t an a aandldate for the namlna- tlon for Chief JPrstlae or Aeeoelate Juetiae of the Court of Clvll Appeals, or for Representative In Congress, of for,State Senator whem rruoh Sen*torlal, Bl&rlot lu oompelled of one or more than bne CountJt, or for Representative, or dlrtrlat judge or dle- trlat attorney In repreremtatlve or judlalal dle- ,:trlatra cempoaed of one er more than me oounty,
shall file with the ohalrman of the ereoutlve ooa- llttee'of the party for the dlstrlat, said request with referennoe to'8 damdldate~for a State aomlnatloa, or if there be no ohalrmam ef aueh dletrlat exeau- tlve oommlttee, then with the ohairman of eaah aounty composing euah dl6trlot, net later than the third Monday In Hay preoedlng the gemeral primary. Suoh requests m&y llkewlre be filed not later than eaid date by amy tuemty-five (25) qmallfied votere xesl- dent within suoh dirtriot, rlgned.and duly acknowl- edged. Immediately after raid date e&oh euah dletrlct chairmawshall aertlfy the namoe of all peracnlr for when emoh requestm,'have been filed to the oounty ahalr- man of each oompty oompoelng suah dirtriot. If eald name Is not aubmltted filed within said time, same shall not be plaoed upon raid ballet." (Bhphasla mm)
These ehaataente were deelped to promote fair deal- ing, good faith prevent lnjuetloe, by demylng frarrdulent or frlvoleus flllmge sf oandldates whloh might made solely for the purpose of deaelvlng,the electorate and without any Intention or hope on the part of the aamdldate of being ma- The Legislature has seen fit to lay down these cessful. requialtea aB safeguards.
Therefore, beferelany oamdldate may submit hlmaelf to the qualified voters of this State, he must aomply with the prerequisites eet forth In Artlole 3111, eupra. SUCh requirement5 are mamdatery. See oases elted, 20 G.J. #1X3, p. 115; 290,J.S. #114, p., 153, lndlaatlng that It Is 80 held umlvereally.
Honorable Hcmer L. lioea, Rage 4
And in HccCloin v. Betts, et al., (Civ.App. 1936) 95 S. W. (2d) 1311, the aourt said:
‘We have aarefullJr 6xulned relator’8 appli- cation to have hie name planned on said ballot, a .S above stated, and find that It contains everg mat- ter required br law. The only arltlalar, a6 to It6 legal mffioleno~; that osuld be rimed 16 that relator did mat aokmGrle4ge hi8 request-er appllaa- tlon for hi8 nane tb )la@ed 06 the ballot aa re- quired by Wbdlrlrl6n 1 of art1016 3111, B.S. 1925. 3kt he did vsrlfy 6ame br swearing that~all,of fhi faot6 stated in hi6 amUoatiun were true. lRe purpose of requiring that ruoh appl1eatlon be aa- knouledged 16 to lnrrre t&e a99lloant~r good faith, purpeee In makiw the riqaest, a6 relator duly verified by oath thr osntermbr of his amlloa- tit% it wir ‘a iubrtmtlrl and rrffiolent oOipll- anoo with the mtatmte.” (siii
In oonrtmlng a rtatutory wo rd l r phra6e the otmrt mag t&e Into mnrPrideratlon the meanly ot the 6ame 818llar language umed eleewhere In thr Act or in anether of similar mature. See oa8e6 alted, 39 Tex, Jurlr. #108, p. 201.
Artlole Vernmm~s A8iaotated dlvil Statutes, re*Qi3, in part, an rdbw8:
‘(Any perusn Qe6lriry Al8 name to appear on ths official ballot for laseral primary, a6.a oandldate fer the noalnatlsn for any @ifice to be filled by the qualifleU voters of a’aounty or c’ portion thereof, or for oounty ahairman, shall file with the aounty ohalnran of the county of his reeldenoe, not later than SatEzr&ay~before the third Monday in June preceding stpoh primary, a written r6quest for his name ta, be printed on 6lzeh offl- oial ballot UB a aandldate for the nminatlon or position named titerein, giving his ocawpation and mat-office addreee. nlvlnn street and number of his reaideme, if witGin a-aity or town, euoh re-
And in Punahard, et al., v. Masterson, et al, 100 Tex. 479, 101 S. W. 204, the Supreme Court ealdr
I, Therefore, when an aaknowledgpaent is pre&iied, without dealarlng of what the ac- knowledgment shall aonsiat, It is mea&It that the grantor In a deed must appear beiore a duly au- thorized sitleer and .state that he exeeuted th% *5 , .
Honorable Homer L. l4s66, page 5
. . lThle werd “aokmowi*adge ’ besides ZFiegal a&se in whlah It has fer a&turiea been used, has alrao a c~mmo~reanlng, umdersfaod by every one, which wmlf@rml~r ralata6 to lsomething pact. It la a 6OnfesaiQn or aQml66ien of 8ome ’ prIorMa&. I Reames v. Amber, 4 Leigh (Va.) 557.
. . .
The personla authorized to take achnawledgments are emumerated~ln Artlole 6602, Vernon86 Annotated Civil Statutes.
lkvlew of the foregoing, It followsl that %he ap- plloamt has nch cemp~&ed with the pmVf.6ien6 of Artlalea 3111 supra, In &at he ha6 not made the required aaknewl- edgment verlflaatiom~nor ha6 he made a Hmubatantial aom- plianoe” therewit&. Furthermore, the applleamt has not set ferth hle oooupatlen on the applloatlon a6 raqulred by eald artlaler .
In mar opinion, therefore, the ohalkman of the ‘Wheeler C@lanty Detieoratlo Exeoutlve Committee does not have the right the name a? the applloant'for to sertlfy 4 pla@e Is a oandldate for &floe of State.~Representatl+e, 122nd Dlstrlot of Texir, 6n the ballot to be used In the Demoaratla Primary to held om July 22, 194, In and for suoh ooumty.
Trurtlng thlB ratlrf*otorl.lj amawern your Inquiry, we are
Very truly yours, A!i’TORNRY dEwIDRAL OF TXXAS Fred C. Chandler Fred 0. Ohmdler A6616tamt BY /s/ Baton N. Hyder, Jr. Hlton N. Ryder, Jr.
EHlf:db
APPRQVBD J-UN 7, a944
APPRQVBD OPINION COlUIUITTEE BY /s/ BWB Qrover Sellers
CNAIRNAN ” ATTORNRY QEWEBAL OF TEXAS