McCharen v. Mead

275 S.W. 117, 1925 Tex. App. LEXIS 666
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 18, 1925
DocketNo. 7411.
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 275 S.W. 117 (McCharen v. Mead) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McCharen v. Mead, 275 S.W. 117, 1925 Tex. App. LEXIS 666 (Tex. Ct. App. 1925).

Opinion

SMITH, J.

As a result of the general election held in Willacy county in November, 1924, appellee, Mead, was declared by the commissioners’ court to have been elected, and given a certificate of election, to the office of county judge and ex officio superintendent of public instruction by a majority of one vote over appellant, McCharen, his only opponent. The latter filed a contest of the election in the district court, where judgment was rendered in favor of Mead, whose majority was therein fixed at 6 votes, the count standing 262 for Mead and 256 for McCharen. The latter has appealed. Appellant assails the legality of certain votes counted below, and asserts the legality of other ballots excluded.

A majority of the votes cast and counted were indorsed with the initials only of the presiding judges, and appellant contends that such ballots were invalid, on the ground that such indorsement was not in compliance with the mandatory requirement of the statutes. that all ballots shall bear the -signature of the presiding judges of the precincts in which the ballots are cast, and shall not be counted unless so indorsed. Articles 3001, 3005, 3011, R. S. We overrule this contention for the reasons given in the opinion rendered in this court on June 12, 1925, in cause No. 7412, Joe Turner v. R. H. Teller, 275 S. W. 115, involving the same election and ballots. Appellant’s first proposition of law, in which this question is presented, will be (overruled. This leaves in dispute the ballots of 17 other voters questioned here by appellant, to wit, Mrs. Julia Oberg, Manuel Seis, Mrs. J. M. McDowell, H. C. Smith, Mrs. G. E. Morse, E. E. Campbell, A. N. Da,vis, Mrs. A. N. Davis, J. H. Ransom, N. R. Kle-man, Mrs. Ramona Kleman, R. P. Alcantar, O. W. Jones, Mrs. O. W. Jones, J. B. Pollock, W. D. Skipper, and Mrs. W. B. Skipper.

It is provided by statute that a poll tax shall be levied and collected from all persons, with certain exceptions, residing within the state on the 1st day of January of each year (article 7354, Ver. Civ. St. 1922 Supp. p. 2010), and that such tax shall be paid at any time between the 1st day of October of such year and the 1st day of February of the - succeeding year. Article 2942, Id: It is further provided that the tax collector “of each county shall begin the collection of taxes annually on the first day of October, or so soon thereafter as he may be able to obtain the proper assessment rolls, books or data iipon which to proceed with the business.” Article 7615, R. S. It is also provided that no citizen shall be permitted to vote at any election, unless he first presents to the election judge his poll tax receipt or certificate of exemption of the previous year issued to him before the 1st day of February of the year in which he offers to vote. Article 2997, R. S. With relation to the foregoing provisions, it appears from the record that R. P. Alcantar, O. W. Jones, Mrs. O. W. Jones, N. R. Kleman, and Mrs. Ramona Kleman were residing in Cameron, county on the 1st day of January, 1923, but did not pay a poll tax in that county for that year; that later in the year they removed to Willacy county, and paid a poll tax in that county before the 1st day of February, 1924, .being the year of the election. These electors voted in the election in 1924, casting their ballots for appellant. These ballots were excluded below, and appellant now challenges the action of the court thereon, insisting that the ballots were legal, and should be credited to him.

According to the decisions, and appellant concedes the rule to be applicable here, the voters mentioned were obligated to pay their poll tax for the year 1923 to Cameron county, since they were residents thereof on the 1st day of January, 1923 ; that they were not subject to the tax in Willacy county for that year, not being residents thereof on the 1st day of January; and that payment there *119 of was purely voluntary, and did not satisfy the plain provision of the statute requiring the payment of the tax to the county in which they resided on the 1st day of January of the year of the levy. Linger v. Balfour (Tex. Civ. App.) 149 S. W. 795.

But appellant seeks to avoid the force of this rule by showing that, while the commissioners’ court of Cameron county levied the poll tax for the year 1923, it did not actually make the levy until October 8th thereof; and it is contended that, because the levy was not made earlier in the year, it was ineffectual, was not a legal levy, and that under a holding of this court in Savage v. Umphries (Tex. Civ. App.) 118 S. W. 893, the voters in question were not required to pay their poll taxes in Cameron county, and the payment of a tax in Willacy county, although they were not residents thereof on January 1st, entitled them to vote in that county. The statutes, however, fix no specific period of time within which the levy shall be made, and we think the fact that it was not made in Cameron county until October 8th' did not invalidate it. We overrule this contention made by appellant.

It is further contended that, because the tax was not levied until October 8th, it became discriminatory and in contravention of the constitutional requirement that all taxes must be equal and uniform, in that .those who desired to do so, by-paying their tax between October 1st and October 8th, the date of the levy, could have thereby escaped the county tax of .25 cents, which was compulsory upon those who paid after the latter date. No evidence is pointed out from which it may be inferred that the tax collector began the collection of taxes prior to the date of the levy, however, and it will be presumed that he did not do so until the levy was made and he was supplied with the appropriate assessment rolls, etc., as provided in article 7615. We overrule this contention, and hold thait, because the five named voters did not pay their poll taxes in Cameron county, in which they resided in the year of the levy, they could not legally vote in Willacy county in the election of the ensuing year. These matters are presented in appellant’s second proposition of law, which is overruled.

In his fourth proposition appellant complains of the exclusion of ballot No. 5, purporting to have been cast for appellant by Mrs. J. McDowell in precinct 1. It was marked for appellant, but not counted as a vote. Upon the tally list the ballot is shown as “5. Mrs. McDowell, disqualified.” Mrs. McDowell testified that at the polling place a ballot was handed her by an election official, but before she could or did mark it some one took it from her, and she thereupon left the polling place, and did not vote at all. The ballot appeared among the returns, fully marked, however. The record shows that Mrs. McDowell, to whom the ballot was issued, did not vote it, and the trial court correctly excluded it. The fourth proposition is overruled.

Appellant complains of the exclusion of the ballot cast for him by one H. 0. Smith. The voter had paid no poll tax entitling him to vote, but claimed exemption, and presented a certificate thereof, upon the ground that he was “permanently disabled,” for which provision is made in article 2942, R. S. There was much evidence concerning the issue of Smith’s condition as to disability, and the trial court resolved the issue against appellant. The evidence fully supported the court’s finding that Smith was not in a permanently disabled condition, as contemplated by the statute. This is the identical II. C. Smith who was held by this court to be not entitled to exemption upon this ground in Huff v. Duffield, 251 S. W. 298. Appellant’s fifth proposition is overruled.

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Bluebook (online)
275 S.W. 117, 1925 Tex. App. LEXIS 666, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccharen-v-mead-texapp-1925.