. 724
OFtiCE OF,THE ATTORNEY GENERAL ~OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
GROVERSELLERS ,,.:
A‘rrORNEY
OENERAL I
Honorable B. C. Roosar
County AttOmey
Howard County
Bfe; springa, Texas
Dear 3frr Oplnlon BIO. o-e564
Ro: Thor authority oi .th
olrrk to Is5
Your reoent letter t a
rolloWing hots:
oonmilraioner
tion. Said tlon blank8
ed by said party, are
B dspartlaent*8 opinion on the follorlng
quss
lark*8 authority to issue mm blrnh.
sued, what ntmbers she11 the olsrk
giva ths AeW blanks.
3. Do all petition blanks ham to be aooount-
au rorl
725
Honorable Ii. C. Hooaer, Pago 2
4. Should the party saklng the applioation
for petition blanks be required to make an affl-
davft etatfnp what beoame of the mtilated pati-
tion blanka.
Penal Code, 1925, am amandod, Artiole $65, motion
32, amended Aote oi 1943, 48th Legirlaturo, pago 509, Chapter
325, paragraph 7, deal8 with local option ol&otionr and among
other things provldor that;
-+ * l Upon tbo appiioatlon ot any one o r
more qwfried voters of my county, jueioe pro-
oinob, u6 lnoorporot~d town or elty, the oounty
olork of suoh runty mhall iaouo to tho opplloaut
or applloantr a patl*ion to be olrouldttod among
the qwllrlod voters thoroof for the 1l@wturor
or those quallfiod, votore in ruoh la’oa aho donire
that a l&al option olootlon bo. o&led theroin
for tho purposo of betermining whether the oalo
or alcohollo ,beversges 0r ono or more of the var-
iouo typos and alooholio ocntaat shall bo pro-
hibited or logalizod althin th+ prmaribsd limits
of ouoh oounty, juetieo prooinot or Jnoor orated
town or oity. The, petition p10 Issued sha P1 olom-
1~ rtats the tsauo or imaues to be voted upon In
5uoh olootionj oaoh suoh petition ahall show the
date vi ita issue by the oouaty olerk and shall be
soriellp ntunberod, end oaoh page of suoh petition
ahall bear the same date a& serial number, and
shall bear the real or the county olork. The ocun-
ty olerk shall doliver a8 &my copies o’f raid pati-
tion as may be roqujrod by the applloant and casoh
OOpy ahall boar the data, number and 5iw1~ on oaoh
page CM mqnire8 in the oriplin&l. The county olsrk
shall keep a oopy of eaoh euoh p;t,it$ and a raa-
ord of the applioanti9 thorefor.
It la well to boar in tind that it is tho petition
that oonier,re upon the ocm&s8ionora1 oourt Ule juriadiotion
t,o order an oleotfon am3 that the oomi881onars* oourt is a
oourt or. rooord. Pouell v. Bond (?laoo Coart OS Civil Appealr,
104ll 150 3. #a (21 337. Thus. a petitton in a 10081 Option
oleo:lon is anal@ua to a ploidln(r In a law ruit and that
the proteotive sld precautionary measuraa ln tbe above statute
is to sea that the eleotiou isau3 be aoouratelg presented and
726
Honorable H. C. Hooser, Fage 3
to prevsnt fraud and impoaitlon upon thd ao.mlsrlonere~ oourt
and prop10 in orlllfli; and OofldlWtinpa an elsotloh. It is,
therefor@, our opinion that offiolals should and eon adopt
any muns th@y think propar to gravont h‘oud In tha oalllng
8hd OOItdUGt~np Of 6 10081 OptlOtl 818QtiOll.
Our statutes provide tor ths subatltutlon or loat
reoords and psperpl (R-C.)?. 77) and t&s oourta have held that
this relordy Is not exoluslvo but soou~ulstlre end that any
other method can be subutituted thut rould bring about the
eme reeult, i.a. supply auoh lost reoords or papers. The
oourte ham further held that a party dorrlrlng to supply 8uOh
lost paporr rbould xaslm affidavit o? tl% loso or drrtruotlon
of the papers he seeks to r6iproduos. Houston v. Rlythe, 60
Tsx.SOBj Byden v’. Dunawry, i?9 S; a, 829; Strohmyer v. :Ying,
77 5. ‘if. 977.
%e therefore nnswer your yuoationa as follomr
1. The oounty olz2rk is aruthorlzed to issue new
petition blanks.
2. Now numbered blenke should be given to the
party. To llluetrets~ if t!m twanty (EO) potftion blank8
were rm&ered one to twenty, lnaluslve, and fiftoea of them
had baen destroyed, thsn the fifteen mu blankn should be
mxnberbd, twenty-one, twenty-two, ato., Ug to snd lnoludlhg
thirty-five.
3. ft 1s our opinion th8t all petftioa blank8
should be scownted for and It ia rupgested that the reoord
or stub of the fifteen 1Ost blanks should shaw that the80
petitions 80 nmbnred ham been destroyed and that In lieu
thereor the new nmbored petitions havs been handed to the
applioant.
4. As a proosutlonary m88~re it in suegaatsd that
the party mskine:'the sppllostion for those patition blenks
should nake an affidavit ahorrlnp ahat beosrce or the mtflatsd
petition bl8nk8; or that they have bsen lost,
727
Honorable II. 0, Rooser, faga 4