Haehnle Brewing Co. v. Board of Supervisors

121 N.W. 209, 156 Mich. 493, 1909 Mich. LEXIS 619
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedMay 11, 1909
DocketCalendar No. 23,387
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 121 N.W. 209 (Haehnle Brewing Co. v. Board of Supervisors) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Haehnle Brewing Co. v. Board of Supervisors, 121 N.W. 209, 156 Mich. 493, 1909 Mich. LEXIS 619 (Mich. 1909).

Opinion

Blair, C. J.

The question of local option having been submitted to the electors of J aekson county at the recent annual election, and the board of supervisors having met for the purpose of canvassing the vote thereon, relator' filed with said board the following protest, supported by affidavits to the truth of the material facts therein alleged, viz.:

“And now comes the Haehnle Brewing Company, a manufacturing corporation, organized and doing business under the laws of the State of Michigan, and engaged in the manufacture and sale of malt, brewed, and fermented liquors in the township of Blackman, in said county, and a taxpayer of said township, having property which is assessed for taxation, and protests against the canvass of the returns made by the board of election inspectors of the first precinct in the township of Columbia, and in the townships of Leoni, Springport, and Norvell, for the following reasons:
“ (1) That in said first precinct of the township of Columbia ballot boxes were used containing no locks, and the ballots cast in said first precinct in the township of Columbia, on the question of local option, were deposited in boxes containing no lock, in violation of the statute of the State.
“ (2) That the ballot boxes used in said first precinct of the township of Columbia, and in which the ballots cast on the question of local option were deposited, were opened by the inspectors of election, or some of them, during the progress of the voting, and not at an adjournment of said board.
“ (3) That in said township of Leoni the ballots cast on said question of local option were not counted or canvassed by the township board of inspectors.
“ (4) That in the township of Springport the voting [495]*495was carried on in an irregular and illegal manner by the chairman of the board of election inspectors in said township permitting and directing men to enter the voting booth, where electors were preparing their ballots, and prepare the ballots of such electors, without any request on the part of such electors for assistance, in consequence of which a large number of ballots were cast in the presence of persons so entering the voting booth with the elector, thereby illegally exposing the ballots of electors, and destroying the secrecy of the ballot.
“ (5) There was no secrecy or attempt at secrecy in the casting of ballots in said township of Springport.
“ (6) That said election in said township of Springport was unfair, in that no reasonable opportunity was given electors to cast their ballots.
“ (7) That there was no canvass by the board of election inspectors of the ballots cast in said township of Springport.
“ (8) That the ballot box used in the township of Norvell in which the ballots cast on the question of local option were deposited was the same box the ballots cast on the good roads proposition were deposited in, in violation of the statute of the State of Michigan.
“(9) That the undersigned, the Haehnle Brewing Company, protests against the canvass of the votes cast in the townships above mentioned, and also in the townships of Concord, Grass Lake, Hanover, Henrietta, Liberty, Napoleon, Pulaski, Rives, Sandstone, Spring Arbor, Summit, Tompkins, and Waterloo on the question of local option, for the reason that all the questions submitted to the electors at such election were not printed on one ballot, but on separate and distinct ballots, in violation of section 3657, 1 Comp. Laws.”

Relator also presented to and filed with the board a petition for a recount supported by affidavits containing, among other allegations, the following:

“Your petitioner further shows that it is informed and believes that in the township of Concord 11 votes cast on said proposition were thrown out and not counted by the township board of inspectors, all or a majority of which were against the proposition of local option, and should, as your petitioner believes, have been counted and certified by said board; that in the township of Spring Arbor a large number of votes, to wit, 35, as your petitioner is [496]*496informed and believes, were cast, which contained distinguishing marks, but which were counted and certified by the board, a majority of said votes so containing distinguishing marks being in favor of local option; that in the township of Grass Lake a voter who was being instructed under the direction of the board how to prepare his ballot was importuned to vote in favor of local option, in violation of the statute, which constituted, as your petitioner is advised and believes and charges, a fraud; that in the township of Tompkins four votes cast against the proposition for local option were, as your petitioner is advised and believes, thrown out, which should have been counted and certified by the board in its return; that in the townships of Henrietta and Norvell the ballots on the amendment regarding the good roads proposition and the local option ballots were put in the same box. Your petitioner further shows that it has good reason to believe, and does believe, that errors were made in the canvass and return of the votes upon said proposition in the townships of Columbia, Concord, Grass Lake, Hanover, Henrietta, Leoni, Liberty, Napoleon, Norvell, Pulaski, Rives, Sandstone, Spring Arbor, Summit, Tompkins, and Waterloo, and that the correction of such errors will materially change the number of votes reported as cast for and against said proposition. Wherefore, this petitioner asks that said board of supervisors, constituting the board of canvassers, appoint a committee to investigate the facts set forth in this petition, and to make a recount of all the votes cast on such proposition in the townships last above mentioned, except the townships of Columbia, Leoni, Norvell, and Springport, and that, in case said board of canvassers refuses to exclude from its canvass the votes certified from the townships of Columbia, Leoni, Norvell, and Springport, then that a recount of all the votes cast in said townships of Columbia, Leoni, and Norvell be made, and that said board make correction of the mistakes and errors in said returns, and that your petitioner have such other and further relief in the premises as it may be entitled to.”

The board of canvassers declined to consider either the protest or the petition for a recount, but canvassed the vote, and determined that the result of the election was in favor of prohibiting the liquor traffic within said county, adopting the resolution required by section 18 of the local [497]*497option act (Act No. 207, Pub. Acts. 1889) as amended by Act No. 183, Pub. Acts 1899.

Upon application by relator, an order to show cause was issued, directed to respondent. The return of the respondent includes the following:

It admits that it ignored the protest and petition so presented by said petitioner, believing that the same presented no question which the board had any right to investigate or inquire into, the same in no way impeaching the regularity of the returns made by inspectors of election of the various precincts in said county, canvass of which was being made by respondent.

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Related

Baldwin v. Board of Supervisors
155 N.W. 367 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1915)
Alward v. Board of Supervisors
153 N.W. 1001 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1915)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
121 N.W. 209, 156 Mich. 493, 1909 Mich. LEXIS 619, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haehnle-brewing-co-v-board-of-supervisors-mich-1909.