Spahr v. Powers

129 N.E.2d 97, 71 Ohio Law. Abs. 121, 57 Ohio Op. 50, 1954 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 331
CourtGreene County Court of Common Pleas
DecidedOctober 19, 1954
DocketNo. 28956
StatusPublished

This text of 129 N.E.2d 97 (Spahr v. Powers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Greene County Court of Common Pleas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spahr v. Powers, 129 N.E.2d 97, 71 Ohio Law. Abs. 121, 57 Ohio Op. 50, 1954 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 331 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1954).

Opinion

OPINION

By JOHNSON, J.

This matter is before the Court on the petition of the plaintiffs, Carl C. Spahr, Paul L. Ferguson and John C. Sparks, Acting as and Constituting a Majority of the Board of Elections of Greene County, Ohio, wherein said plaintiffs pray for a declaratory judgment defining the rights of said designated defendants, John R. Powers and Harry O. Deatherage concerning their respective eligibility to vote at . the May 4, 1954, [122]*122primary election to be held in Greene County, Ohio, the petition alleging that in addition to the defendants, John R. Powers and Harry O Deatherage, there are other persons similarly situated; said petition further prays for a finding of the Court defining the duties of the Board of Elections relative to withdrawing the names of said defendants from the registration lists of said Board and for such other and further relief as may be just and proper. The record discloses personal service of summons was had upon the defendants as required by law, and all proper and necessary parties are before the Court.

On May 3, 1954, the Court directed and ordered, as provided in the entry therein filed, that the question of the legality of the registration of the defendants, John R. Powers and Harry O. Deatherage, and the right of said defendants to vote at the Primary, which question affects the right of other persons similarly situated should be held in abeyance and determined by the Court at a time to be set by the Court subsequent to the May, 1954, primary election, and wherein it was further ordered that said defendants and persons similarly situated as the defendants should be permitted to cast their ballots at said Primary, said order further stipulating that the Board of Elections should require the precinct officials to impound said ballots voted by the defendants as well as persons similarly situated and to keep said ballots separate and apart from the other voted ballots, and that said ballots should remain secret, sealed, and retained in the possession of the Board of Elections pending further orders to the Board of Elections by the Court.

Said petition for declaratory judgment alleges that the defendants, John R. Powers and Harry O. Deatherage, are persons residing in the Village of Yellow Springs and so registered with the Board of Elections * * * that on or about April 27, 1954, separate applications were filed with the Board of Elections for correction of the precinct registration list and challenge of the rights of the defendants to vote; that the challenge in respect to the defendant, John R. Powers, is based on the following grounds:

“Said John Powers is not legally qualified to have his name contained on the registration voter’s list of the above designated precinct by virtue of these facts:

“1. His home residence is Rome, New York.

“2. He enrolled in Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1950-1951.,

“3. His registration on 9-27-50 as a qualified elector of said precinct was illegal and without authority of law and contrary to and prohibited by the provisions of §4785-33a GC (Now §3503.05 R. C.).

“4. The above applicant for the said stated reasons challenges the right of said John Powers to vote at said precinct and herein applies to and requests said Board of Elections to cause the name of John Powers to be removed from such precinct registration list as required and provided for under §3503.24 R. C.”

That the challenge in respect to the defendant, Harry O. Deatherage, is based on the following grounds:

“Said Harry Deatherage is not legally qualified to have his name contained on the registration voter’s list of the above designated precinct by virtue of these facts:

[123]*123“1. His home residence is Beardstown, Illinois.

“2. He enrolled in Antioch College, Yellow Springs, Ohio in 1951-1952.

“3. His registration on 3-26-52 as a qualified elector of said precinct was illegal and without authority of law and contra to and prohibited by the provisions of §4785-33a GC (Now §3503.05 R. C.).

“4. The above applicant for the said stated reasons challenges the right of said Harry Deatherage to vote at said precinct and herein applies to and requests said Board of Elections to cause the name of Harry Deatherage to be removed from such precinct registration list as required and provided for under §3503.24 R. C.”

The evidence introduced before the Board of Elections on April 29, 1954, pertaining to the residence of said defendants, the dates of enrollment at Antioch College, the dates of withdrawal or graduation from said College, and the dates of registration with the Board of Elections, relative to the defendant, John R. Powers, disclosed:

“Enrolled in Antioch College, January 27, 1946. Graduated from Antioch College, June 23, 1951. Registered with the Board of Elections, September 27, 1950. Residence prior to enrollment, Utica, New York. Residence since graduation, Yellow Springs, Ohio.”

These facts pertaining to the defendant, Harry O. Deatherage, disclosed:

“Enrolled in Antioch College, September 1, 1947. Graduated from Antioch College, June 23, 1951. Registered with the Board of Elections, March 26, 1952. Residence prior to enrollment, Beardstown, Illinois. Residence since graduation, Yellow Springs, Ohio.”

In order to determine the qualifications and eligibility of the defendants and those similarly situated to vote in said Primary, based on the facts so presented, it is necessary to resort to the election statutes controlling the same.

At the outset it can be stated generally that the right to vote is not a necessary incident to citizenship; neither is it a natural right, such as the right to personal security, the right to personal liberty, or the right to acquire and enjoy property. Except where restrained by the Constitution, the power of the General Assembly over it is unlimited. The right of suffrage in this state has its source in and is guaranteed by Sec. 1 of Art. 5 of the Constitution, which provides:

“Every citizen of the United States of the age of twenty-one years, who shall have been a resident of the State one year next preceding the election, and of the County, Township or ward, in which he resides, such time as may be provided by law, shall have the qualifications of an elect- or, and be entitled to vote at all elections.”

The legislature has further provided that the qualifications for voting at a primary election are that the person offering to vote is twenty-one years of age, or will have attained such age on or before the date of the next general election, that he is in other respects a qualified elect- or, and that he is a member of the party for which such primary election is being held. See §4785-82 GC (3513.19 R. C.).

Sec. 4785-35 GC (3503.07 R. C.) in respect to qualifications for registration provides:

[124]*124“Each person, who will be of the age of twenty-one years or more at the next ensuing November election, who is a citizen of the United States, and who, if he continues to reside in the precinct until the next election, will at that time have fulfilled all the requirements as to length of residence to qualify him as an elector shall, unless otherwise disqualified be entitled to be registered as an elector in such precinct.

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Bluebook (online)
129 N.E.2d 97, 71 Ohio Law. Abs. 121, 57 Ohio Op. 50, 1954 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spahr-v-powers-ohctcomplgreene-1954.