Brown v. Adams | Cases | Westlaw

Acting on the face of the primary election returns, the Democratic Executive Committee of Red River Parish declared A.M. Adams nominated as party candidate for member of the School Board of Ward One of that parish. Within the delay fixed by statute, his only opponent, B.L. Brown, Jr., instituted the present suit, a contest of said election, wherein he alleges that but for fraud and irregularities committed by the election officers in Precincts One and Four of the ward, the returns of the election would have disclosed that he received a majority of the legal votes cast thereat, whereas the opposite appears. He does not allege the number of votes, on the face of the returns, accredited to him or his opponent, nor does he allege specifically the number of votes disclosed therefrom by which he was defeated. Plaintiff avers that in Precinct Four two persons were allowed to vote who were not legally qualified to do so because of lack of residence therein for the time required by law; and that one person was permitted to cast his ballot thereat after having received the same from the commissioners and taken it beyond the limits of the polling place. All three of these voters are named in the petition. It is not alleged for which candidate they cast their ballots, nor that these votes, standing alone, affected the election's result. So far as the petition discloses each of them may have voted for plaintiff.

The more serious attack upon the election result, primarily relied upon by the plaintiff, is that made against the returns from Precinct One of said ward. As regards this box, it is specifically alleged that “petitioner is informed and believes and so *701 believing alleges that a proper recount of the voting box, or the ballots cast in said box * * * would change the result of said election and would show that a sufficient number of the voters who cast their ballots in the said box in said election voted for petitioner to give him the Democratic nomination for member of the Red River Parish School Board from Ward One.” A recount of the vote cast at Precinct One is prayed for; and it is also prayed that should such recount reveal plaintiff to have received a majority of the votes cast at said election the Executive Committee be ordered to revise and amend its proceedings and resolutions by declaring that result and to certify plaintiff's name to the Secretary of State as the party nominee for the position involved.

The fact that plaintiff does not allege the number of votes returned for him and also defendant in Precinct One or the majority, on the face of the returns, received by defendant, in our opinion, is not fatal to his petition, which should be liberally construed to the end that the suit be maintained and the true rights of each side be judicially determined. The correctness of the declared result is attacked. That result gives the nomination to the defendant. Plaintiff simply says to the court that the only way to ascertain the correct result of the election is to recount the ballots in one box, which he believes have to a material extent been miscounted.

The statute requires that a recount of ballots be done in open court when the case is tried. The contest and recount are integral parts of the action, and inseparable. The result of the recount in this case will constitute important evidence, whether for or against plaintiff, and will be considered on trial of the case in conjunction with the official returns of other precincts of the ward in order to finally determine the election's result. That is a province of the court.

Defendant argues that plaintiff's action is nothing more than a “fishing expedition”, launched in the hope of procuring evidence to support his contest. The answer to this contention is to simply say that the statute clearly authorizes the procedure. A contest of this sort must be filed within two days after the committee has acted. An aggrieved candidate may not provoke a recount and then bring a contest suit. The two are companions toward a common end.