Case Information
*1 OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS AUSTIN
Haaorable Harry Boyd
Ootlntg Attorney
Eenderaon Qounty
Athens, Texas
Dear 8im
12, 1941, reqilsrting th
the folloM.ng qUe8tlon:
t 20 people, jority of the oaa8olid8tlaa or poll two8 or poll tax?" evL86d Civil lltatutes PO- ordoped by the Oomty 8ohOO1 di8trlOt8 "&I the ority of the legally 2ti kWlti@AOU8 .@-a independent school dia- 8Uah d%8t+'iot8 f ." (l&phasl6 is rupplled.) led vote# or 'legally qtullfied voter'
eets the qrvliilaations pXW8eribed in eatlams 1 and 2 o? Artiale VI) and Bta- et seq. R.C.S.), Be $8 one who -2955, having Mlfllled all prereqtiislted may demand that he be alloved to vote. The term8 upm whioh men w vote are plainly set forth in the COU8titUtiOIi. The mud be 8UbjOOt to none of the ti@qUB~ifia*tiOn8 net f0Pt.h in bee- *2 Honorable Rarry Boyd, Page 2
tlon 1 of Article VI of the &3iI8titUtiOllf he nnut have attained the of 21 years; he must be a altlren of' the United State8 who ahall have re8Ided In thI8 State one year next preceding the eleotlon and the la& 8Ix months vlthin the district or oouuty In whlah he offers to vote. There I8 thi8 further &IgnIflcant requirement:
II . . . . aud provided f'urther, that 8ng voter who I8 ilubjeot to pay a poll tax uuder the law8 of the State of Texas shall have paid 8aId tax before offering to vote at any eleotian In thi8 8tate and hold receipt ahowing that 8aId poll tax wa8 paId before the firrt day o? February next preoed- ing such eleatlon. . . ." (Art. 2955, R. 0. 8.
Sec. 2, Art. VI, Con8titutIon.)
As stated by the Court in Bl&k v. Pool (97 Fox. 333, 78 9. w. 922)r %O reqUirellWW%t8 Of this 86OtiOIh Of
the Constltutlan are 80 plain as to preclude ban8tructIon. It i8 alear that it wa8 I&l?&- ed-to prescribe, a ooaditlon precedent to the exerclre OS the elective immahi8e, that all pereans subjeot, under the Oou~tltutlan aud lairs, to payment, 0f a poll tax, 8hould make pay- ment thereof before the lrt day of February next preceding the eleotion."
In Rarnest v. WoodlIe (Ct. of CIv. App.) 208 9. W. the statute there being cOn8trued required the petition of 75 "qualified votera" to orgsniee county.
The court held that payment of poll tax by tho8e subjeot thereto ras essential to the validity of the 8Ignatures on the petition.
In Texas Power 1L L,lght Company v. Brownwood Pub- 110 Service Company (C.C.A., 1937) 111 S.U. (ad) l225, writ m&med, the San Antonio Court of Glvll Appeal8 held that the cltg council of the Oltg of BrowWood properly excluded, *3 Honorable Barry Boyd, Page 3
In te8tIng the f~uffIcIency of referendum petition pre- sented to them, the maes of those more thau 60 years of vho had not secured exemption certificates aa not be-
“qualified votbrs” wIthIn the provIsIon of Artiole i”8 11 1 of the Revised Civil Statute8. The court conoluded that when the rmms of there people vere 80 excluded the getltlon did not aan+in the signature8 of 500 bona fide
qualified voters” presoribed in the 8tatute as xieaes- eary prerequisite to the 8ub&88Ion of the framhI8e in quemtlon to the vote of the people.
On motion fox rehear&g the Court rlid# ‘The steps required by lav for one vho posaeaees the other l ttrlbute8 of 8uffrage pre8arIbed by the I%n8titutlon are a8 e8sen- tial, It seem8 ta ms, to qualify him a8 a voter In the one oa8e a8 b the other.”
The Unguage of the Supreme Court of To-8 in Powell v. City of Baird, 133 Tex. 489, 128 8. W. (26) deolded Hay 31, 1939, 58 thI8r
"Simply 8tSted under the above oomtltu- tlonal provl8Ian before a voter Is qualified such, he Iwt pay aOy poll tax that he 8ubjOCt to, which has bear levied by authority of any State law, 8nd ruoh must 'hold receipt shoving 8aId poll tax wal) paid before the 1st day of February next preoeding such eleatIon.1
"It is evident Roar vbat we have arid that that part of titlcle 2955, RevI8ed Civil Statutes, supra, which require8 those 8ubject to the payment of olty poll taxes to pay them In order to qualify a8 voters In any election, Is valid and oanstitutlonal. In fact, under Section 2 of Arttale VI of our GonstItutIon, 8-h would be the lU @bOUkt Ou& put Of
awh Smtute. Tha Statute in rrolr l StrtUm dOC-tiaP Of WMtitUtlW8l
lM.C
APPRWEDMAR 14, 1941
ATTORNEY GXNERAL 0~ TEXAS
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