OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS
AUSTIN
u0n0rabie aidmy mthom
Seoretory oi Gtate
Austin, Texaa
Dear Ur. Letham: Opinion No, O-6111
oertiti8a-
your requeet for,an
,
o~cure’oti November
at the ohair-
tion Qahall forth-
Mates at the pri-
meeting of
the Pirst Tuesday after
Pter the fourth Saturday in August
ear, will be September 12, 1044.
onfXiokwith Article !WW, which in
t with drticle 2137, but we are not
th these particular conflicts, and
allowed by the demooratia party,)
Presumably, the certification of the nominees of the
demooratio party will bo made Immediately after the
meeting of this convention.
*Artlola 3184 proridee that po\itioal paytiee
who cast as many as 10,000 votes and less than 100,000
rote8 for Governor in the preceding general election
may nominate by either primary eleotlon or by oonven-.
tiolii In the event euoh,nominations are by convention,
lionorable Sidney Latham i- page 2
drtiole 3167 provide8 for aertifioation ot such
nominees to . the Seoretary
. . . OS’
__ . State,
_ but
_-_ is r&lent
.
as to the time within whiOn auoh Oertlfloatlon io
to lie made.
*Article 3189 makes provision tor non-partisan :
and Independent candidates to hare their namee
placed upon the general election ballot by appli-
cation addreesed to’the Secretary of State and:
t .** delirered to him within thirty da a after pri-
mary eleotion day,.,’ Presumably, t I+-
0 phrase ‘pri-
mary election day’ refers to the weoon& primary whiah
falls this year on August 26th, oncl the thirty days
thereafter allowed for the filing of independent oan-
dirlatee would be September 25, 1944.
*The Forty-Beoond Legislature pcraeed an sot known
ae’Ghapter 183, page ‘314, General Laws of 1931, whioh
was coclifiea as Artioler 3979, 3079A, .3979B aa 9989~,,
the last of whioh articles provide8 that the names of
the candidates for President and Vi.00 Pre.si&ent shall
be oertified to the Seoretary of State’ ,,, at least
twenty &aye prior to the eleotion...t In an opinion
dated September 28, 1932 and addreseed to the then
Secretary of State, kra* Jane I. MoGallum, the then
Attorney Oenerel, Hon. James V.. Allred, held this
1931 aot to be YOM. In an opinion sated August 27,
1938, and addrebretl to the then Amsietant Secretary
of &ate, 16. E, Sazullin, the then Attorney Oeneral,
lion. William HoGraw, held the 1931 aot valid, at
leaat by implioation, and gave full foroe and eiT0Ot
to its prorieions.
*Artiole 2966 provide6 that absentee ballots
shall be Oast t , . , not more than tw entr (22,). w,
nor lees than three 3 ‘N .w prior to the date of
auah ‘an election,-9
*Ax-tide 3336 maker it the duty of the .Seoretary
of State tat least thirty &12 before Baoh general
election , , .( to presoribe all form8 neoeesary,for
the election and to furnish Mm0 to eaoh oounty judge.
Thin inoludee the furnishing of a sample ballot oon-
taining the names of nominee8 for all political par-
tiee and independent candidatei. Thit~ duty would
therefore hare to be aoOomplishM not later than
Ootober 3, 1944.
Honorable SMney Latham -- ,pagb 3
WA11 computations of time herein hare been made
under the general rule of eroluding the first and in-
eluding the last day of the per104 involved.
*The rarioue confliots in the above statuter~.
are quite apparent. St would appear that in any
event this office could not begin the preparation
of the general elcotion ballots until after Septem-
ber 23th, the deadline dste for non-partisan and in-
,, dependent oandidat0s as 3rOtidcd in Article 3133. :
We woui& then have from September 26th to October
0th to have the sample ballots printed and to fur-
nish them to the county judges un&er Article 2926).
1x1view~of the labor shortage in moet'printi8g 080
tablishmenta this would certainly be the minimum
time within whioh the ballots oouli¶ be obtained from
the printer. On the other hand, if the aot of X931
(Artiole 3G79G) A.6 valid, an8 If any polltioal party
availed itself of the full time allowed under this
8rtiCle for Oertifying it8 pr~ai.dential Oandidatesi
the ballot would hare to be held open by thie offioe
until October 18th which would preclude our comply-
ing with Article 2925. There would likewise be a’
hiatus between Artiole 3OTQGand the absentee rating
law (ktiOl0 395S) as absentee voting should begin
on the very day which would be the last day for oer-i,
tifying presidential candidates, but there will ha?e
been no time in which to have the ballots printed
and furnished to the county judges, if it must be
held open until the 30th day preoeding the election
as provided in Article 3i~79G. If thf.6 date is fol-
lowed, oonaidering the time that would be requiretl
for this office to have sample ballots printed and
the time required for the counties to repro&u00 the
ballot in suffioient quantities to meet their needs,
there is no doubt but that the entire period pro-'
tided for absentee voting will hare expired before
any ballots were available for dietributionb
*Sinoe no time limit is prescribed by Article
3167 for the oertification of oandidates of ,parties
oasting between 10,000 and 100,000 VOtes, and n0
epecifio time other than the word *forthrlth'~ Is
specified in Article 3133 with respeot,to politioal
partiee nominating at primary elections, it is pre-
sumed that the deatUine for these two olaeses of
political parties must be derived from some of the
other statutory provisions herein mentioned.
klonorable Sidney tatham -- page 4
*In the light of the above facts, will you
please advise this office upon the following in-
quiries-t
"1. What la the oorreotdeadline filing date
for certifications to this offioe of oandldates
whose name8 are to appear on the general eleo-
tion ballot, after which this offioe may pro-
ceod to have the sample ballots printed?
"2. fe the general rule of excluding the first
and including the last day of the period involv-
ed applicable to the computation of the dates
involved in this inquiry?
"3. slave we oorreotly computed the deadline
dates of September 26th. October 0th and October
18th under the statutes above referred tot*
Under date of September 28, lo%, this Department
rendered an opinion to the Secretary of State, Jane Y. Mo-
Gallum, with respect to the preol8e matter involved in your
inquiry.
In tho course of that opinion, written by llomer 0.
DeWolfe, Assistant Attorney Ucneral, aft&a very oareful re-
view of the pertinent statutes, the followiug oonclusion w8s
announo ed I
*Since the general eleotion is to be held this
year on November eth, and sin00 thero seems to be
no reason why the certificate of the Secretary oi
State oannot be made at the present time, it is the
writer's opinion, and you are so advised, that you
should certify the names of the notinees for state
office to the scveral county clerks of this state
at the same time you make your oertifioatc of nom&-
nees f0.r district office, which is not later than
October ,first, or at least within sufficient time
to permit the county clerks of this state to per-
form their statutory dutiee am herein discussod,
taking into consideration a reasonable time for
the transmission of your oertifloate and the prep-
aration by the county clerks of the ballot form and
the time necessary to have said ballots printed, in
uonorolie 8idIl~ wthull -- page 8
l&Ution to th etime rsqulrsd tar ths ostln
of the names to be printsd on,uld b812:%
ot,an
ksepiry in mind the taot that the ballotr mat
,'
LlcrDeUolCe*a opinion was ooaaidecad ad lp* " :
prowld in ~OOllr%renO4.
- m sterling vl Wrgueon et al,,88 8. w w (8j’$88,'
ih.0Wlpreme Qourt in a pr ouriam opinion rftorqw~ing
.th4 -above paragraph rrom blr~ DeWol?e*s o&ion,
*Thisa oonolurdon ot the Attorney Oenersl
seems to be in fair aooord with our 01n 0011"
oeption of the law**
apps,arethe statutes are the same nou t&q 84r4
It
at the time of the rendition of'these opinkons,~and the apin-
ions, tbepefare, are d4c.isiroof your qu4etioa.~
It w&11 be noticed that the Suprem Oour.t~oplmio5
uao rendered a few days af+terthe Dewolis opinion. The Yoi "
Craw opinion mentioned by you as oonflioting with the Ail&d
opinion as to the validity of'Artiol4 307QC had not then
bean r t%xU!d-ed..
80 th@t, as the queetloa now stands, it is ruled
a~ ths 2uprem4 Court deoision s adopting and appvating the
Attornq 61ezmral"s opinion, as hereinabor,e shown.,
Yoreor, Attornq Qenwal lioCr,aw hSmseff, tbrougb
Wr 5. t. Gray, his Aesietant , has apparently, ,&a ailed,
hold contrary to his opinion of Augurrt 2?, ZDyi,, reCi?rred to
;LulJF, in the fatlowing r&peat.:
‘I* 4 *. Theodore, you are .adri,eed that
.aWer oarerully oemtruing the statutes at
large that all num4s should be ~certlfi~ed be-
iF4 t&m date prwided for in absent44 toting.
*You clr4 :aleo advicwd that sinoe 5t ~r4-
qu%ree ,a number oi daye to prepare the ballot
and the printPng oi Dame that a reasonable
amoupt of time ehould be taken into .oonsid~era-'
'tion for that pwpoae, but In no instance
should the baUof not Iv4print.edand b,4An
^ - -. _
the herds of the CrountjClerk prior to the
thirtf days preoeding th# eleotion,* L- ,Dook
8e8, p* mob
That we h&r@ uid, we think, oonetitutee ul
ansuer to pur several qwetione6
Aed ltant