Case Information
*1 OFFICE OFTHEATTORNEY GENERALOF=-
AUFTIN
Honorable Walt$ir Marchleon
county Attorney
Iiaakall County
Haskell, Texas
Dear Sir* opinion lb. o-4124
Ret Does the tern “resident property tax paying ooters” 88 used in Arts. 75&J and 7524, V.A.C.S., mean that the sigaera of the petition therein aentIoned for a road bond election maat have actually paid their poll taxem 60 aa to be quallfled to VOtU?
Your rogue& for our oplnlon on the herekabove c&p- tiened queatlon hs been cecefvsb by thls department. Ye quote from your letter aa Pollover
-The County Judge and ansIll.llsionerr court of Harkell County have xqUe8tW.l me to submit
~w;;~lovfng question to you for rour gplnlon,
Woea the tarm *re*ldenttax paying voters' an it appears In Arts. 75S?o ain8 7526 of the
Revleed Civil Statutes oi Texas, mean that the
dgnerr of the petitlow therein mentioned for
a road taoti election mu$t hme actos'llj -id
their poll taxes so as to be qualiifed to VOte.
"The question arose vhen it was mid to appear at a hearing on petition asking for
an election that although rsqtired number
of tignere were lreeldent property tax PaYerr'
and lnaufllclent number uere aotual VQterS(lM
the sense of havin.$ pa%d their Poll taxes-
Xonorable Walter Hurohi8On, Pa@ 2 752d aad 75% OS Vernon~~s Annotated Civil Artloler
Statutes read ae follovat ‘Art. 7524. Petltlon for eleotlon "Hhere any polltlaal mbdlvialon, or any road dlatrlat, dealree to Issue bonda, there
@hall be prewnted to the Commlarloners~ Court
of the county in vhioh uwh mbdlvlalon or die-
trlct la situated, a petition s&ned by ftfty
or a majority of the resident mopert~ t-y-
lng voters of aald &dfvlslon or road dletrlct
praying such court to order en election to
determine vhether or not the bonds of auoh
subdlvlelon or dlstrlat ehall be lamed toan
ambunt etated Sor the purpose of the construe-
tion, maintenanae and operation of macadamlted,
grfmeled or paved roada and turnplken, or in
aid thereof,, and whether or not taxes shall
be levied on all Able-property within eald or district In pay'mnt thereof. mhdlvltslon
Upon presentation of suuh petition, It ahall
be the duty of the court w Vhieh it ,ie pra-
sented to fix a t*m ~~#a ae at which l uah
petition ub8ll b@ h .' ; i&l& g ,a Eybe
r. Thealerk lasue a notlae of such tlnm ,lihluh
notlce ehal.1 onoemed of
the time and plaoe of hearing and of thelr
rl@t to appea@t such hearing &ml aontend
for'or protert'the ordo
eleotlon. Such not100 Eii3roX::P&d-t
of bondsI propored to be lmled, and ehall
deaorlbe suoh polltleal eubditiaion or r+d
district by its name or number, &u&d shall
deacrlbe the bounderlee thereof 8e 8uCh bound-
ariea am deearlbed mad defined in the ordOT
of the CoaslLs810nerst Court ertablih5.ng nrch
subdfvlslon or diatrlct. The olerk ehll eace-
ate said .mtioe by poeting trus OOPlee them-
of in three public plaaes within eu& subdlVl-
t~ion or road dlutrlct and one at the oourt
home door of the county. Said notloe shsll
be poeted for ten .daya priok to the dste of
Honorable Ualter Humhlaon, Page 3
said hearing. Said notlae shall also be pub-
lfahed ~~rapaper.ofg~eralolrculatlon
ln tha aubdl~lalan or dlatrlat, if newspaper
is publlahod there& ona txma, and at leut
five days prior to aueh Wing. If no nova-
paper is published 5.n auah aubdl~iaion dia-
trhrt, then auah notlae shall be published in
ems nevapQar publlehed In the aounty, 1s The dutiaa hiraln
there be one. imposed upon tha clerk may be parforprd by said alerlc in
person by deputy, (~8 rovlded by lav for other alaullu- dutlea." P Underaoorlng ours)
“Art. 752e. Ifearlng uul detemlnatlon “At the tima and Platte set for the hearing of the getltloa, or auah agbaaquant date aa may'
then be fixed, the aourt &all prooead to'hear such pot1tioa anqall mttera ia mapeot of the
proposed band l le~tia a. Aay porqon laterested
may appear before the oaurt in or by
rttornay and aoqSead for of protest the a&lag
of auah propaag# bond lectlcm. Suuh a hearlag
asybead#nd#frai~ytodaynadfiolltirs to tlm, 91 th&+xwt may deem nmeraary. Is upm t&e hawUijj of suah petitian, It be fotmd
that .&ha aaaa $6 l Qned by fifty or m mJw$ty
due natlae ‘$aa km given, wid that
sod lagmvesenta vould be for tha benefit ln such aub- for the purpaae oi dekrPsinfns the que*tionX
aientloned 3.n 8uah petitiona~ prwlQml, howwor,
thetmlhaourtsry~othe~ofthe
bonds propooed to be iaau~d, If, up- thr htiw ing such change be found naceaanry or desirable.
m proposition to ba aubnttted at au& eleation
shall apeolfy ,3ha purpose for which bonds
are to be leaued, the amount thereof, the Nte
Iiapomble Knlter Mur&l?on, Face 4
of interest, and that ad valorem taxes asw
to be levied annually on a.ll taxable property aald dietriot Or mbdlvlolon sufficient
vlthln to pay the ennual Interest and provldena alnk-
ing fund to pay the bonds at amturlty.
(Underaoorlng ours)
The vord 'voters" as ordlnarlly used, has two man- ins* -- paraona vho perform the aot of voting, and persona vho
.have tha puallflaatlona entitling them to vote. Its marUng
denends on the cmueatlon 3n vhlah lt la used. ax&l it la sot
*Gaya equivalent to eleatora. See Words and- Phrases (Pem.Rd.)
Vol. 44, p. 459-461.
As used In the phrase %ealdent property tax paying votera,R ln the quoted atatutea, Ye am of tha oplrhm thatly
vord "voters" ma8na peraan8 vho have the auallfloatlona ent t -
inn them to vote.
what la the puxpoae'of a provlalon, au&a as contained In tha statutes under oonslderatlan, mplrlng a oertaln aud3ar
of "m&lent prope*y tax paying voterc to petition for a band
election before the Comlarlonera~ ana otier l ueh an eleo-
tlon? This queatlon seam to ba fully answered by formar Chief
JuatleeOalnea ofdur8~Courtlntb case of SW-,
et al vs. Eubaak, 9).20x. 106, 53 8. W. 573, froa Whoa0 opilrton Ye quot. ali follQlm1 if not 8ol.e purpoie of mqulr- Vhe main,
i2tg the petition in ra*ob or a &ange (or the
county sad) before ordering an eleatlon is
to save tha pub110 fmm khe axpanae, 1088 of to l uah UI aho-
tlm, l.nfJidant a& atGitvt tlan, unlaar then 1s a maanablo probablllty
that the required mj~~y*of eleotors v1l.L
vote for the ahange. .
%a number (of petltloxwra) ought to ba aufflalent to give mama aaauranaa that there
exlata a 4ealre on part of large OjllagOrtl~
or the votera for the ahans to be voted for, la prabablllty
end than thatc In aaae
the election be ordered, the propoaltion Vil.l
-=7. ma Ze the foundation of the poliap f
xonorabie Walter Ibrrohi*on.'PPge 5
vhlch detemlnea the nmber of appllcants
neceuea to procure 6n order for an elaa-
tton." 1 Undersuorlng and~parenthetical
matter ours). uord 'raters," as used we eru of the opinion th6t
In the quoted statute, neana persona vh~ have the qu&ificatl.ona
entitling them to yrzte.
Artlola 2954, Vexnon's Annotated Civil 8tatute8, names the alaaaea of persona *o are not. qualified to vote la Taxna.
Article 2955, Vernon's Anuotated Clvll l3tatutea. aetttnn forth voting, reads as follova~
the quallflcatlaw for ‘Art. 2955. 2939 Quallflcatlona for Yotlng
Avery aubjeot to name of the foregolag dl.aquallfications vho ahall have
attained the ege of tvsaty-one (21) yeara
and who a!tiall be a altlaen of the Unlted
Stetee, md vho ah8ll have railded ln this .
stat8 03M YOU 8l'BXt plWCediZ& 811 QbOtiOJJ,
and%Im Inat six (6) lootbe vithb the dir-
trlut or county in vhidr he or she &fez8 to vote,, shall ba deemd a .qusllfied .eleetor.
Pap eloatwa living in au wzoqpxnfaed aormfy
may vote at an eleotion preoimat Sn the em- aueh eleotlon~ of Febbrusrp niutt preceding
opal, lf said voter 1s exempt fron peying a
poll tax and zw3ider in+ aLtyoftcmthau-
sand (10,000) l.nhabitoPta more, lu or aha met prmmra a ce~lfloat~ ahow- his
or her exemptiona, as 8equlred by th%a title: ‘.~ . . If aimh votn ehsll Mve lost mlapleaed tar reaelpt, he or ahe shall be entitled ~(i
aald to vote upan mklng and lesvlng Vlth tha judge 1:~’ .%k
of the election an affldayit~that such tax ~6.
¨pbLe Walter Mur~aon. PaSo 6
paid by hias or her, ore b hla wife or b
her husband before said F lrat day of Pa - g
ruarynextpreaedlng auaheleatlonatvhioh
he or ehe offers to vote, ,+x&l that aald re-
oelpt hae been lost or daplaoced. In any
oleatlon held only Ln a aubdivlalon of a
aounty for purpose of d~tsmining any
loaal question propoalt:on affecting
only auah aubdlvlalan of th6 uounty, than in addition to the foregoing ~quallflaatlona.,
the voters muat have resided In aald county
for ak (6) months next prem aubh eleo-
tlon. The provlalom of thla Article as to
caxting bBllota &all apply to all. el.satlana
iaoludw general, apeclal, and primary elec-
tfona; provided that n city pelJ. tax &all
not be required to vote in any election In
this State except in oity eleotions.'
(Underscoring oura)
Qne of the ~ualiflcatlona that a parson aiuat have in or&r to be a "voter, therefore, la tbtt he mud hnve either
paldUe poll tax op 8hovhimeeLftobe exemptedfk~the pay-
mnt of a poll tax as provldgd by l&u.
Ia Oplnlaa 510. O&145, randered by thl% bparmcmt .ozt Octobm 6, 1941, ;tt was held t&t the term %ualWhd voter”
am wed in Artlck 666-32 of the Fexaa Liquor Contml Aot mans
that aunt be .qualified to vote either to the extent of
having paid hi6 poll tax ba exemptad fraa! paying aaam. before
his ~tura cm a petition raqueetlng a looal option electlon
aan ba counted ln coasputlng the number of Qualified voterr who
have signed tha petition. We are enclosing herewith a copy of
said oplnlon for your inforsatlon.
In vlev of the forego*, themfore, it is the opln¶.on of thla department, under the facts &ate& that your queatfon
bauld be amvvered in the affirmatlvo, Irma it is aaensvered.
Very Wuly y6ura ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINlON EPIRS
WMMII-I’EE