The petition for mandamus and return thereto show that the nominating petition states on its face that it is a petition to put in nomi
Section 909 of the Pennsylvania Election Code of June 3,1937, P. L. 1333, provides, in part:
“Each sheet shall have appended thereto the affidavit of some person, not necessarily a signer, and not necessarily the same person on each sheet, setting forth — (a) that the affiant is a qualified elector of the State, or of the political district, as the case may be, referred to in said petition; (6) his residence, giving city, borough or township, with street and number, if any.”
The question before us is whether leaving out of the affidavit the word “tenth”, to designate the number of the representative district, is such a material error that it would invalidate the nominating petition, since under the law we have no right to direct the amendment of it in a mandamus proceeding, and the time for amendment has expired.
In our opinion, a material error would consist of an omission of some matter of vital importance which might mislead either electors or the officials who have duties to perform with reference to nominating petitions, but
The question before us is whether we should so strictly construe that requirement as to justify the refusal of the nominating petition where from all the other statements, both in the affidavit and on the face of the nominating petition, nobody could be misled, and in that connection it must not be overlooked that the concluding paragraph of the affidavit is, that the signers were electors of the “Democratic Party in said district and county”. Inasmuch as there was no district mentioned, this part of the affidavit necessarily refers to the place in the nominating petition where the district was named.
We are of opinion that while these matters all depend upon statutory provision, the statute should not be so strictly construed in the instant case as to justify the refusal of this nominating petition. The mandamus, therefore, must be granted. We assume, however, that it will not be necessary to serve any formal writ of mandamus upon the Secretary of the Commonwealth.
