Merrill v. Shearston

214 P. 540, 73 Colo. 230, 1923 Colo. LEXIS 323
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedApril 2, 1923
DocketNo. 10,578
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 214 P. 540 (Merrill v. Shearston) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Merrill v. Shearston, 214 P. 540, 73 Colo. 230, 1923 Colo. LEXIS 323 (Colo. 1923).

Opinion

Mr. Chief Justice Teller

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an election contest involving the office of the county treasurer of Adams county. The plaintiff in error was declared elected on the face of the returns. The defendant in error contested the election, and the matter was heard in the county court of Adams county, finding and judgment for the contestor. The contestee brings error and asks for a supersedeas.

The question for determination is as to the right of the inmates of the Fitzsimons Hospital to vote in precinct 23 of Adams county. This hospital was constructed and is maintained by the United States government for the treatment of soldiers and ex-soldiers afflicted with tuberculosis. It appears from the evidence, quoted in the briefs, that [232]*232there were, at the time of the election in question, between 1,100 and 1,200 patients in the hospital; that they are under the control of the United States Veterans Bureau; that they may be sent, at any time, by the government medical authorities, to any other hospital in the district, and will be discharged and removed from the hospital whenever they are deemed cured. How many of these patients voted does not appear, but it is conceded that if the patients of the hospital who voted, and who were held not qualified to vote, were in fact not qualified, the judgment, is correct. The right of the nurses and civil employees of the hospital to vote is questioned, but we do not find it necessary to pass upon that question. There is no dispute as to the facts.

Defendant in error relies upon article VII, section 4 of the Constitution, which reads as follows:

“For thé purpose of voting and eligibility to office, no person shall be deemed to have gained a residence by reason of his presence, or lost it by reason of his absence, while in the civil or military service of the state, or of the United States, nor while a student at any institution of learning, nor while kept at public expense in any poorhouse or other asylum, nor while confined in public prison.”

Defendant in error contends that a hospital, such as this, falls within the term “asylum” as used in the constitutional provision in question. Webster defines asylum as an “institution for the protection or relief of some class of destitute unfortunate or afflicted persons.”

In Lawrence v. Leidigh, 58 Kans. 594, 50 Pac. 600, 62 Am. St. Rep. 631, the word as used in the Kansas Constitution is defined as “an institution for the protection and relief of the unfortunate.”

Inmates of soldiers’ homes are generally entitled to stay there indefinitely, and there would be much more reason for holding that they might acquire a voting residence, at such home, than there would be in the instant case, as to the patients. Yet in Silvey v. Lindsay, 107 N. Y. 55, [233]*23313 N. E. 444, and Wolcott v. Holcomb, 97 Mich. 361, 56 N. W. 837, 23 L. R. A. 215, it was held that the word “asylum”, in a constitutional provision like that under consideration, included a soldiers’ home; and that inmates thereof did not, by residing in such home, acquire a domicile, and a right to vote in that district. In both cases it was held that residence in such an institution partook of the character of the institution, and was likewise eleemosynary, that the inmates have no connection with local municipal government, and that they were there only in the character of beneficiaries, for a temporary purpose. [The cases recognize that the purpose of the provision is to prevent the control of municipal affairs by persons who have no pecuniary interest in them] In one case it is said on this subject: “This provision of the Constitution is aimed at the participation of an unconcerned body of men in the control through the ballot box of municipal affairs in whose further conduct they have no interest, and from the mismanagement of which by the officers their ballots might elect, they sustain no injury.” In Re Cunningham, et al., 91 N. Y. Supp. 974.

The reasoning in these cases applies with full force to the facts of the instant case. The patients in the hospital have no interest in the affairs of Adams county, and yet they might, by their united votes, determine a matter of great local interest.

We cite these cases only upon the meaning of “asylum” and as establishing principles, which whether or not applicable to soldiers’ homes, are certainly applicable to hospitals, which have none of the characteristics of a home.

Under the authorities, an inmate of an asylum, or a student attending school, is not, by this constitutional provision, prevented from becoming a voter in the place where the school or asylum is situated. The holding is solely that the rig'ht to vote is not gained by a mere residence at the place; but, if it exists, it must be shown by acts entirely distinct from such residence. In re Barry, 164 N. Y. 18, 58 N. E. 12, 52 L. R. A. 831.

[234]*234In 20 C. J. p. 72, it is said of this question: “The facts to establish a change of residence must be wholly independent and outside of his presence in the district as a student, and should be very clear and convincing to overcome the natural presumption.”

This is the law announced in Matter of Goodman, 146 N. Y. 284, 40 N. E. 769. See also, Matter of Garvey, 147 N. Y. 117, 41 N. E. 439.

Regardless of this constitutional provision, the patients in this hospital are not, under the statute (section 2146, R. S. 1908), entitled to vote. According to that section, a voter’s qualifications includes a residence of one year in thé state, ninety days in the county, thirty days in the city or town, and ten days in the ward or precinct. Presence in the hospital, under the circumstances shown, does not, under the decisions of this court, constitute residence such as is required by the statute.

In Sharp v. McIntire, 23 Colo. 99, 46 Pac. 115, in discussing this statute, we said: “It is contended by counsel for contestee that the word ‘reside,’ as herein used, signifies to ‘dwell’, ‘abide’ or ‘live’ in the state; and that when a person has actually lived in the state the specified time he meets this requirement. With this construction of the word we cannot agree. We think the residence therein contemplated is synonymous with ‘home’ or ‘domicile,’ and means an actual settlement within the state, and its adoption as a fixed and permanent habitation; and requires not only a personal presence for the requisite time, but a concurrence therewith of an intention to make the place of inhabitancy the true home.”

In Jain v. Bossen, 27 Colo. 423, 62 Pac. 194, it is said: “The distinction between mere residence and domicile must be borne in mind. The former is used in law to denote that a person dwells in a given place; the latter is the legal home of a person, or that place where the law presumes that he has the intention of permanently residing, although he may be absent from it. Rapaljae & Lawrence’s Dictionary.

[235]*235When one has acquired a domicile, he must abandon it before he can gain another. To effect such a change, there must be both act and intention; in other words, there must be a severance from the old place with the intention of uniting with the new one, and these must concur. Kellogg v. Hickman, 12 Colo. 256.”

In Parsons v. People, 30 Colo. 388, 70 Pac. 689, there was under consideration the same statutory provision.

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Bluebook (online)
214 P. 540, 73 Colo. 230, 1923 Colo. LEXIS 323, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/merrill-v-shearston-colo-1923.