Looney v. County Election Board

1930 OK 461, 293 P. 1056, 146 Okla. 207, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 314
Supreme Court of Oklahoma·Decided October 18, 1930·No. 21789·Published·Cited by 17 cases

Opinions

MAXEY, Special Justice.

This is the third prohibition proceeding from Seminole county instituted in this court by the petitioner, Joseph O. Looney, and growing out of the primary electiop. held on Ju,Ty 29, 1930, wherein the petitioner and George C. Crump, the intervener herein, were candidates for nomination by the Democratic party as district judge for the Ninth judicial district of this state.

In the first proceeding, entitled Looney v. County Election Board of Seminole Couney et al., No. 21575, 145 Okla. 25, 291 Pac. 554, this court issued a writ of prohibition to the county election board of Seminole county, prohibiting it from recounting any of the ballots cast at the primary election in that county for the office of district judge of the Ninth judicial district until such time as it was made to appear to the board, from evidence, that the ballots sought to be recounted “had been preserved in the manner and by the officers prescribed by the statute, and that they were the identical ballots cast by the voters and that while in said custody they had not been so exposed to the reach of unauthorized persons as to afford a reasonable opportunity of their having been changed or tampered with.”

After the issuance of this writ, the county election board of Seminole county convened and heard the testimony of many witnesses, most of whom were precinct election officials and members of the county election board of said county. At the conclusion of this hearing, the county election board made its determination as follows:

“This board, pursuant to an opinion of the Supreme Court No. 21575, has heard the testimony produced by the contestant in the above styled and numbered action. This testimony has been taken in shorthand by a reporter designated by this board. We have also heard the testimony of one witness Ira J. Banta, called by the contestee.
“Thereupon both contestant and contestee rested their cases, in so far as the evidence was concerned, with the reservation on the part of the contestee that in the event the county election board should decide to open the boxes for the purpose of counting the ballots, the contestee might have the right of objection to any condition in which the boxes might be found.
“We have listened to the testimony of all the witnesses relative to the manner in which these ballots have been preserved and the method in which the boxes have been guarded from the time the votes were cast until the present moment.
“We are, therefore, of the opinion that the ballots challenged in the petition of the contestant have not been disturbed, tampered with or altered since the time they were cast by the voters; and we are of the opinion that the ballots now sought to be recounted are the identical ballots east at the primary election July 20, 1930.
“We are further of the opinion that the petition of the contestant is sufficient to justify a recount of the ballots, save and except precinct known and designated only in the prayer of the petition ‘as Wolf,’ and that no definite error or detailed statement challenging the correctness of the vote in this precinct has been set. forth by the contestant in his petition. We are, therefore, of the opinion that no recount should be allowed of the box known as precinct ‘Wolfe Three.’
“It is, therefore, the order of the county election board that in conformity of this opinion that all boxes prayed for in the petition, save and except ‘Wolfe Three,’ be opened for the purpose of recounting the same in this contest.”

One of the members of the county election board dissented therefrom.

After that determination was made, the election board proceeded to count certain ballots cast for the Democratic nomination for district judge. However, before the board had made any change in the tabulation of the vote cast or had certified the same for the office of district judge to the State Election Board, the petitioner commenced a second proceeding in this court, which is entitled Looney v. County Election Board of Seminole County et al., No. 21727, 145 Okla. 136, 292 Pac. 44.

In this last mentioned case this court held that the county election board had acted in violation of the writ of prohibition issued in the former case, in that its findings did not conform to the demands of the writ requiring “that the ballots had been pre *209 served in the manner and by the officers prescribed by the statute and that they were the identical ballots cast by the voters and that while in said custody they had not been so exposed to the reach of unauthorized persons as to afford a reasonable opportunity of their having been changed or tampered with,” and, in the absence of such findings, the board was without authority to recount the ballots. This second writ prohibited the county election board from making any change in the official returns of the several precincts in Seminole county for the office of district judge in the general primary election, held on July 29, 1930, and from recounting the ballots cast at said election until the finding and determination required by this court in its writ of prohibition in cause No. 21575 had been made.

After the issuance of this writ, the county election board again convened on October 3, 1930, and proceeded to hear evidence and make another finding. At this last hearing all the testimony which had been taken in the former hearing was introduced and certain additional testimony heard. At the conclusion of this hearing a majority of the election board made the following findings and conclusions, to wit:

“Now, on this 3rd day of October, 1930, the county election board of Seminole county, Okla. being duly assembled for the purpose of taking further and additional testimony upon the petition of George C. Crump, contestant herein, and he being present in person and by his attorneys, and Joseph O. Looney, contestee, being present in person and by his attorneys, this board finds:
“First: That pursuant to the petition filed by the contestant, and a writ of prohibition issued by the Supreme Court of Oklahoma, in cause No. 21575 in said court, this board has heretofore sworn and examined and taken the testimony of numerous witnesses, and pursuant to a writ of prohibition issued out of the Supreme Court in cause No. 21727, this board has now reassembled for the purpose of taking further itestimofcy and witnesses have been sworn and examined and the parties to this action have closed, and this board now considers all of the testimony so introduced at this and at former hearings and finds:
“First. That the ballots in the following precinct boxes, to wit: Brown township, precinct boxes 1, 2, 5, 6, and 7; Econtuchka township, precinct boxes, 1, 4, 5, 10, 11, and 12; Miller township, precinct boxes 1 and 2; Wolfe township, precinct boxes 2, 4, 5, and 7; Redmond township, precinct boxes 4 and 5. have since the 29th day of July, 1930, up to and including this date, been preserved in the manner prescribed by the statute.
“Second. That the ballots have been preserved by the officers prescribed by the statute.
“Third. That the aforesaid precinct boxes now contain the identical ballots cast by the voters at said election.
“Fourth.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Looney v. County Election Board, 1930 OK 461, 293 P. 1056, 146 Okla. 207, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 314 (Okla. 1930).

1930 OK 461 (Looney v. County Election Board) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

I. T. K. v. MOUNDS PUBLIC SCHOOLS
2019 OK 59 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2019)
IN RE: INITIATIVE PETITION NO. 397, STATE QUESTION NO. 767
2014 OK 23 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 2014)
State Ex Rel. Dixon v. Darnold
939 S.W.2d 66 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1997)
Henderson v. Maley
806 P.2d 626 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1991)
Edmondson v. State Ex Rel. Phelps
1975 OK 1 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1974)
Sparks v. State Election Board
1964 OK 114 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1964)
Wagoner County Election Board v. Plunkett
1956 OK 329 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1956)
Peccole v. Moore
197 P.2d 858 (Nevada Supreme Court, 1948)
Harden v. District Court of Tulsa County
1935 OK 1184 (Supreme Court of Oklahoma, 1935)
State Ex Rel. O'Connor v. District Court
260 N.W. 73 (Supreme Court of Iowa, 1935)