Adkins v. Huckabay

749 So. 2d 900, 1999 La. App. LEXIS 3634, 1999 WL 1261279
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 23, 1999
DocketNo. 33,593-CA
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 749 So. 2d 900 (Adkins v. Huckabay) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adkins v. Huckabay, 749 So. 2d 900, 1999 La. App. LEXIS 3634, 1999 WL 1261279 (La. Ct. App. 1999).

Opinion

liPER CURIAM.

This election contest case stems from the runoff election for sheriff of Red River Parish held on November 20, 1999. In that election, the candidates were David G. Adkins and Lester Shields “Buddy” Huck-abay, III. Adkins received 2,246 votes; Huckabay received 2,249 votes. Of those totals, Adkins received 171 absentee votes, while Huckabay received 308 absentee votes. Adkins subsequently brought a timely election contest suit seeking either to be declared the winner, or to have a new election. At the conclusion of a trial that included numerous witnesses and exhibits, the trial court voided the runoff election and ordered a new election to be held on February 5, 2000. In oral reasons for judgment, the trial court concluded that some 38 votes should not have been counted in the election. Huckabay, joined by the commissioner of elections and the secretary of state, moved for an appeal.

For the reasons set forth below, we reverse the trial court’s judgment voiding the results of the runoff election, and we render judgment declaring Huckabay the winner of the runoff election for sheriff of Red River Parish.

DISCUSSION

Article 11, § 1 of the Louisiana Constitution requires the legislature to adopt an election code that provides for permanent registration of voters and for the conduct of all elections. Article 11, § 2 requires voting to be by secret ballot, and requires the legislature to provide a method for absentee voting. The placement of the requirement for absentee voting in the Constitution itself, alongside other basic requirements concerning voting, shows the fundamental importance of absentee voting to our electoral process and to the citizen’s right of suffrage. Accordingly, absentee voting is not a special privilege in derogation of general voting law, and ^statutes enacted pursuant to the constitutional mandate for absentee voting should not be strictly construed so as to void absentee ballots in every instance where there is some failure, especially on the part of an election official, to follow statutory provisions on absentee voting to the letter.

A sizable majority of jurisdictions in the United States construe absentee voting laws liberally, as opposed to strictly, in order to accomplish the purpose for which they were adopted: to protect and further a citizen’s right to vote. Roe v. Mobile County Appointment Board, 676 So.2d 1206 (Ala.1995). Reasons for utilizing a more liberal construction are well stated in the Florida Supreme Court’s opinion in Boardman v. Esteva, 323 So.2d 259 (Fla.1975):

We first take note that the real parties in interest here, not in the legal sense but in realistic terms, are the voters. They are possessed of the ultimate interest and it is they whom we must give primary consideration. The contestants have direct interests certainly, but the office they seek is one of high public service and of utmost importance to the people, thus subordinating their interest to that of the people. Ours is a government of, by and for the people. Our federal and state constitutions guarantee the right of the people to take an active part in the process of that government, which for most of our citizens means participation via the election process. The right to vote is the right to participate; it is also the right to speak, but more importantly the right to be heard. We must tread carefully on that right or we risk the unnecessary and unjustified muting of the public voice. By refusing to recognize an otherwise valid exercise of the right of a citizen to vote for the sake of sacred, unyielding adherence to statutory scripture, we would in effect nullify that right.

Other similar, practical reasons for adopting a rule of substantial compliance, rather than strict compliance, are found in the Colorado Supreme Court’s opinion in [903]*903Erickson v. Blair, 670 P.2d 749 (Colo.1983):

We believe the time has come to interpret absentee voting legislation in light of the realities of modern life and the fundamental character of the right of suffrage. We live in a society which, to a great extent, depends upon mobility as an indispensable condition of progress. Many persons for legitimate reasons cannot be physically present at a polling place to cast their ballots on the day of the election. These electors, no less than in-person voters, should be able to present their views on issues of public importance without being encumbered by an unyielding standard of statutory exactitude. ^Moreover, the right to vote is a fundamental right of the first order. Absentee voting legislation should not be construed in a manner that unduly interferes with the exercise of this right by those qualified to vote. Nor should the exercise of the voting right be conditioned upon compliance with the degree of precision that in many cases may be a source of more confusion than enlightenment to interested voters. A rule of strict compliance, especially in the absence of any showing of fraud, undue influence, or intentional wrongdoing, results in the needless disenfranchisement of absentee voters for unintended and insubstantial irregularities without any demonstrable social benefit.

Although we are unaware of any Louisiana case directly stating that absentee voting statutes should be accorded liberal construction and honored in substantial compliance, the wisdom of such a standard is implicit in Meyer v. Keller, 376 So.2d 636 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1979). In that case, the trial court disallowed six absentee ballots cast for the winner. However, the appellate court reversed. The trial court had disallowed one ballot because the voter was not signed in on the poll list by the Commissioners at the poll as required by law. The Meyer court cited the decision of Champagne v. Ackal, 256 So.2d 483 (La.App. 3rd Cir.1972), for the general rule that, where the electors have had a fair and free opportunity to express their will at the polls, and have done so, the result of their choice will not be set aside because of the failure of a ministerial officer to perform some duty imposed upon him by law. Applying those principles, the Meyer court concluded that the failure of the commissioners to enter the voter’s name in the poll list was not such an irregularity as to void the vote. The trial court also disallowed two ballots because the voters’ names on the absentee ballot flaps did not exactly match names on the precinct register. Finding no statute or jurisprudence requiring an absentee ballot to be invalidated for failure of the voter to sign the absentee ballot exactly as Ms name is listed in the precinct register, the appellate court concluded that the two ballots should have been counted.

Of particular significance for our purposes in this case was a ballot the trial judge in Meyer disallowed because it was not signed by the clerk of court. Again |4citing the principles expressed in Champagne, the Meyer court concluded that no policy would be advanced by disallowing the voter’s vote for the failure, of the clerk to sign the affidavit. Thus, the Meyer court concluded the trial court erred in disallowing that vote. See also Brunet v. Evangeline Parish Board of Supervisors of Elections, 379 So.2d 271 (La.App. 3d Cir.1979).

In Boardman, supra, the court held that the primary consideration in an election contest is whether the will of the people has been effected.

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Related

Opinion Number
Louisiana Attorney General Reports, 2005
Adkins v. Huckabay
755 So. 2d 206 (Supreme Court of Louisiana, 2000)

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749 So. 2d 900, 1999 La. App. LEXIS 3634, 1999 WL 1261279, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adkins-v-huckabay-lactapp-1999.