Coleman v. Allen

347 So. 2d 84, 1977 La. App. LEXIS 4932
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 10, 1977
DocketNo. 6098
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 347 So. 2d 84 (Coleman v. Allen) 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
Coleman v. Allen, 347 So. 2d 84, 1977 La. App. LEXIS 4932 (La. Ct. App. 1977).

Opinion

DOMENGEAUX, Judge.

This suit concerns itself with an application for a Writ of Mandamus by H. S. Coleman, Jr. against J. S. Allen, Registrar of Voters of LaSalle Parish, Louisiana, praying that the said Registrar be ordered to certify the names of various persons to the Secretary of State of Louisiana in connection with a previously certified recall petition.

The rule was heard in the district court, pursuant to previous fixing, on March 31, 1977, and judgment was rendered in favor of the defendant registrar, dismissing the rule to show cause and denying the writ of mandamus.

Writs were applied for by plaintiffs to this court and denied on April 13, 1977.

Plaintiff has appealed and we are informed by the parties that the Governor of the State of Louisiana has ordered that the recall election be held on June 28, 1977. Accordingly, we have expedited the hearing on appeal.

Appellant suggests two issues upon which the trial judge erred:

1. The interpretation of the recall election statute, as amended, LSA-R.S. 42:341 et seq.

2. Deprivation to plaintiffs of due process under the United States and Louisiana Constitutions.

We conclude that the reasons for judgment rendered by the able trial judge correctly sets out the facts of this dispute, and adequately disposes of the first issue, and we quote from same with approval, as follows:

The facts are as follows:

(1) Petitioner Coleman was elected a member of the school board from Ward 2 in LaSalle Parish in 1972 and his term of office is not due to expire until December 31, 1978.

(2) A committee has circulated a petition in Ward 2 of LaSalle Parish, Louisiana calling for the recall of petitioner. Their petition containing the names of persons purporting to be [85]*85qualified electors in Ward 2 of La-Salle Parish was filed with the defendant, Registrar of Voters, on the 25th day of March, 1977.

(3) Defendant, in his capacity as Registrar of Voters, certified the petition on the 26th day of March, 1977, and on the same date he submitted the petition by mail to the Hon. Paul Hardy, Secretary of State of Louisiana.

(4) Along with the petition referred to above and the certificate dated 26th March 1977, the defendant certified and submitted to the Secretary of State other lists of persons who by their signatures indicated it was their desire to remove their 47 names from the petition calling for the recall of plaintiff. These lists had been submitted to defendant by Mr. Coleman on or before the 26th day of March.

(5) On Monday, March 28th and Tuesday, March 29th, 1977, Plaintiff Coleman requested that defendant certify other lists, containing 105 more names of persons, including Plaintiffs Milton and Wainwright,1 who seek to remove their names from the certified petition.

(6) Defendant has refused to certify any of the 105 names on the lists tendered to him after March 26th and he has refused to forward these lists to the Secretary of State or to the Governor. He has made the same refusal to proponents of the recall who seek to have their names added to the original petition.

(7) When Mr. Coleman tendered the lists after March 26th, defendant advised him he could not accept them. Nevertheless, Coleman left them at defendant’s office. Defendant brought the lists to Court, identified them and they were introduced in evidence.

As stated above, plaintiffs seek a Writ of Mandamus directing defendant to certify that those listed on the documents tendered after 26 March 1977 are Ward 2 electors who signed the petition certified on the 26th day of March 1977 and to transmit said lists and certificate to the Secretary of State of Louisiana before action is taken by the Governor of Louisiana pursuant to La.R.S. 42:347. The issue is whether La.R.S. 42:343(B) prohibits his doing so.

The Louisiana Legislature has established the following procedure in recall efforts:

§ 341 RECALL AUTHORIZED

Any public officer, excepting judges of the courts of record, may be recalled in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter.

§ 342 PETITION FOR RECALL ELECTIONS

A. Whenever the recall of any public officer is sought, a petition shall be directed to the governor. The petition shall be confined to the request that an election be called and held in the voting area for the purpose of recalling the officer.

B. This petition shall be signed by a number of the electors of the voting area as will in number equal not less than twenty-five per centum of the number of the total electors of the voting area wherein and for which a recall election is petitioned; provided, however, that where fewer than one thousand qualified electors reside within the voting area, the petition shall be signed by not less than forty per cent of said electors.

§ 343 CERTIFICATION OF REGISTRAR OF VOTERS; WITHDRAWAL OF SIGNATURES

A. The registrar of voters of each parish in the state, wherein a recall election is sought, shall certify on the recall petition, within ten days after presented to him for that purpose, the number of [86]*86names appearing thereon, the number of persons who are electors of the voting area, and also the total number of electors of the voting area, as of the date of execution of the certificate. He also shall indicate on the petition the names appearing thereon, who are not electors of the voting area.

B. At any time after receipt of such petition and prior to such certification, the registrar of voters shall honor the written request of any voter whose name appears on such petition and who desires to have his signature stricken therefrom. No additional requests for the withdrawal of any signatures to such petition shall be accepted subsequent to certification of the petition by the registrar of voters.2

(C & D inapplicable)

§ 346 SECRETARY OF STATE TO CERTIFY AS TO NECESSARY SIGNATURES

The Secretary of State shall certify upon the recall petition that the number of signatures required have been signed to the petition before presentation to the governor.

§ 347 GOVERNOR TO ORDER ELECTION

Within five days after a petition for a recall election is presented to the governor, in accordance with this Chapter, if the required number of registered voters qualified to vote at the last preceding election signed the petition, calculated from the certificates of the registrars of voters and Secretary of State, then the governor shall issue a proclamation ordering an election to be held for the purpose of deciding upon the issue of recalling the officer, which said election shall be ordered in the proclamation and held on the first Tuesday after the sixtieth day from the date of proclamation.

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Opinion Number
Louisiana Attorney General Reports, 1998

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Bluebook (online)
347 So. 2d 84, 1977 La. App. LEXIS 4932, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coleman-v-allen-lactapp-1977.