Pioneer Irrigation District v. Walker

119 P. 304, 20 Idaho 605, 1911 Ida. LEXIS 130
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 119 P. 304 (Pioneer Irrigation District v. Walker) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pioneer Irrigation District v. Walker, 119 P. 304, 20 Idaho 605, 1911 Ida. LEXIS 130 (Idaho 1911).

Opinion

STEWART, C. J.

This ease was submitted to the district court of Canyon county upon an agreed statement of facts. It appears from the agreed statement of facts that application was made to the Pioneer Irrigation District, praying that certain lands should be annexed to said district; that notice was given as provided by law and a hearing had upon the petition for annexation, and the board made an order that an election should be held to determine whether the [609]*609boundaries of the district should be changed so as to include the lands described in the petition. The question arose with the board whether the election should be held under the provisions of see. 2379, Rev. Codes, as amended by an act approved March 6, 1911, and whether sections 1, 2, 3 and 4 of said act are constitutional or whether the election should be held under the provisions of sec. 2379 before amendment.

Upon this statement of facts there was submitted to the district court the following questions:

1. Shall said board of directors of said irrigation district, in calling said election, appoint registrars under see. 2379, of the Rev. Codes of Idaho, and shall such registrars be governed in the performance of their duty in reference to said election by said section?

2. In conducting said election, shall the judges hand the electors a ballot with an indorsement made thereon by one of. the judges showing the number of votes which may be cast by said elector by means of said ballot, and shall such elector be permitted to cast more than one vote in said election?

3. In conducting said election, shall persons be permitted to vote who do not reside within the boundaries of said district at the time of said election and are not qualified electors under the laws of the state of Idaho for the county within which said district is situated ?

4. Shall parties be permitted to vote at said election who are not electors of the state of Idaho ?

5. Shall electors be permitted to cast ballots at said election which have been marked or identified by judges of election?

6. Are sections 1, 2, 3 and 4 of said act of the legislature, approved March 6, 1911, constitutional?

In answer to these inquiries submitted to the court, the court made certain findings of fact, adopting the agreed statement of facts as such findings, and made the conclusion of law that sections 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the act of March 6, 1911, were unconstitutional and that the board of directors of the said Pioneer Irrigation District in calling said election should appoint registrars under sec. 2379 of the Rev. Codes before amendment, and such registrars should be governed in the [610]*610performance of their duties by said section. Judgment was rendered accordingly and this appeal is from the judgment.

It is urged upon this appeal by the respondents that secs. 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the act approved March 6, 1911 (Sess. Laws of 1911, p. 461), are unconstitutional for the following reasons: First, that such sections fix a property qualification for voters at elections other than school elections or elections creating indebtedness in violation of sec. 20, art. 1, of the constitution; 2. That such sections extend the right to vote to persons who own lands within the district although such persons may be nonresidents of the district and county where the district is located, and therefore violate the provisions of secs. 2 and 4 of art. 6 of the constitution; 3. That such sections provide for the use of a ballot which contains distinguishing marks and is not a secret ballot, and by reason of such fact such sections are in violation of the provisions of sec. 1, art. 6 of the constitution; 4. That said sections also violate the provisions of secs. 2 and 4, art. 6, of the constitution and sec. 20, art. 1, of the constitution in providing that a voter is entitled to vote after such irrigation works are built and in operation according to inches of water he is entitled to use from such irrigation works, and also in certain cases may vote as many votes as he has acres of land.

These are the principal reasons argued by counsel representing the parties directly interested in this controversy and other counsel who have been permitted to appear and make argument and file briefs as amici curian. The several sections of the constitution referred to and involved in this case are as follows:

Sec. 20, art. 1: “No property qualification shall ever be required for any person to vote or hold office, except in school elections or elections creating indebtedness.”

Sec. 2, art. 6: “Except as in this article otherwise provided, every male or female citizen of the United States twenty-one years old, who has actually resided in this state or territory for six months, and in the county where he or she offers to vote, thirty days next preceding the dajr of .election, if registered as provided by law, is a qualified elector.”

[611]*611Sec. 4, art. 6: “The legislature may prescribe qualifications, limitations and conditions for the right of suffrage, additional to those prescribed in this article, but shall never annul any of the provisions in this article contained.”

Sec. 1, art. 6: “All elections by the people must be by ballot. An absolutely secret ballot is hereby guaranteed, and it shall be the duty of the legislature to enact such laws as shall carry this section into effect.”

Sec. 2 of the act of March 6, 1911, among other things, provides:

“Every person over the age of twenty-one years, who shall be a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the state of Idaho, and who shall be, at the time of the election at which he offers to vote, the holder of land embraced in any district, or proposed district, and which is irrigated from works owned by said district, or which is to be irrigated from the works proposed to be purchased or built, shall be entitled to vote at any election held under the provisions of this title. And at all such elections held after such irrigation works are built and in operation, or when the irrigation works to be purchased are being operated, every person having the qualifications hereinbefore prescribed shall have the right to cast one vote for each inch of water and a proportionate vote for each fraction of an inch of water which he is entitled to use from such irrigation works for the irrigation of lands held by him and embraced in said district, and, in the election of directors, he shall have the right to cast the full number of votes to which he is entitled for as many persons as there are directors to be elected at said election: the word ‘inch’ of water as herein used, means the equivalent of one-fiftieth of one cubic foot of water per second of time; provided, that when it is proposed in the petition to build new irrigation works, and until such works are in operation, all persons having the qualifications hereinbefore prescribed shall be entitled to vote at all elections held under the provisions of this title, one vote for each acre of land held by him and embraced in said district, and a proportionate vote for each fraction of an acre so held.....Provided, further, that in all elections held [612]

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Bluebook (online)
119 P. 304, 20 Idaho 605, 1911 Ida. LEXIS 130, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pioneer-irrigation-district-v-walker-idaho-1911.