OROVER SELLERS
W- 1
Hontwable limier L. #Ions
County Attamey
Wheeler County
Wheeler, Texas
Dear Sir8 opinion i?o. 0-6054
Ret Vader the frcts,submitted
and under Artlales 3111
and 3112, ver130~~nBnnota-
ted Civil Statutes, doe8
the Chairman of the Whuteler
County Democrat10 Executive
Committee have tha right to
certify the name of the ap-
plioant em a oandldate for
the oftLee of State Repre-
sentative in and fer said
aounty?
Thin will acknewledge reoelpt et your letter, dated
May 20th, whlei~reada, In part, a6 tellers:
tt
. . .
"Hr. Grump a6 ChaIrman of the County Exeeu-
tlve Demooratic cemmltteehas reaeived an appll-
aatien from one Hr. R. L. Templeton for a plaoe
on the ballot tobe Peed by and for Wheeler Coun-
ty In the oorlng iirst Demeeratla primary. Mr.
Templeton la a oandldate for the offloe of Repre-
sentative.
"Hr. Grump advises that there Is no district
exeautive aommittee and the filinga in such paoes
are made with the four county ahalrmen respeatlve-
1Y. In.the aase at hand no form of auknowledgment
or verificationappears on the application. Matur-
ally, Mr. Grump is anxious to have you pas8 upon
this matter at your earliest eonvenlence,if'at all
practical. There being no exact preoedent by aourt
decision to the knowledge or either the chairman
OF I, it appears very Important that the former
have the benefit of an opinion from you or gour
staff In order th&t a generally satisfactoryaction
on his part may performed.
1,
. . .."
Honorable Homer L. Roes, page 2
We further set forth the applicationin question as
disclosed by your enoloaed brlefr
"R. L. Templeton
WellIngton,Texan
*To thb:&halrmanof the Damooratla Rxecutlve
Committee In and f'orWheeler County; Texast'
"Dear Slrt
"I hereby make applloatlonto have my name
placed on the ballot to be used at the Democratia
Primary for the seleotian of Democratlonominees
for State amd CeumtJreffioas at the election to be
held throughout the State on July 22nd, 1944 as a
candidate bar the offlee of'State Representative
fer the 122nd RepresentativeMstrlot of Texas,
aempoaed of Uelllmgsworth,Wheeler, Gray and Donleg
Counties.
"In connection therewith I hereby enalose the
sum 6f $1.00, flllng fee.
"I am twenty-fouryear6 of age and was born
In Wellington,ColllngsworthCounty, Texas, where
I have resided and had my oltlxenshipall of my
life. I am a Democrat and pledge avself to sup-
port the nominees of the Demcbaratla
Primary.
"Respeotisllly
submitted,
R. L. Templeton (In writing)
(signature)
R. L. Templgton (typed)
Poet office address;
Wellington, Texas."
Articles 3111 and 3112, Vernon's Annotated Civil
Statatee, respectfaillyprovides
"The request tarhave the name of any person
affillatlngwith any party plaoed on the official
ballot for a genera3 primary as a oandidkt&?f'dr;
the nomination of'suoh pafty for any State offiae
shall be governed by the following:
“1. Suoh request shall be In writing signed
and duly acknowledgedby the person deslrlng swoh
notilnation,or by twe)nty-i'lve
qnaliiled voters.
Zt shall state the ooanpation,oountg oi residence
Honorable Homer &. M~BB, paSe 3
and post-officeaddress of m~h pereen, and if
made by him shall aleo state his age.
“2 Amy suoh request ehall be filed with the
State &airman mot later than the first Wonday la
Jume preeedlrg rlnahprinrry, and shall be aoneidered
filed if aent to suoh oh8lz!manat hia port-offloe
addrem by reglateredmall from'uy point In thin
State.
". . ..* (mlphqeis aurs)
"Amy peraom desiring his mame to’appear on
the offlalal balZi&tan a aandldate for the namlna-
tlon for Chief JPrstlaeor Aeeoelate Juetiae of the
Court of Clvll Appeals, or for RepresentativeIn
Congress, of for,State Senator whem rruohSen*torlal,
Bl&rlot lu oompelledof one or more than bne CountJt,
or for Representative,or dlrtrlat judge or dle-
trlat attorney In repreremtatlveor judlalal dle-
,:trlatracempoaed of one er more than me oounty,
shall file with the ohalrman of the ereoutlve ooa-
llttee'of the party for the dlstrlat, said request
with referennoe to'8 damdldate~fora State aomlnatloa,
or if there be no ohalrmam ef aueh dletrlat exeau-
tlve oommlttee, then with the ohairman of eaah aounty
composing euah dl6trlot, net later than the third
Monday In Hay preoedlng the gemeral primary. Suoh
requests m&y llkewlre be filed not later than eaid
date by amy tuemty-five (25) qmallfied votere xesl-
dent within suoh dirtriot, rlgned.andduly acknowl-
edged. Immediatelyafter raid date e&oh euah dletrlct
chairmawshall aertlfy the namoe of all peracnlr for
when emoh requestm,'have been filed to the oounty ahalr-
man of each oompty oompoelng suah dirtriot. If eald
name Is not aubmltted or filed within said time, same
shall not be plaoed upon raid ballet." (Bhphaslamm)
These ehaataentewere deelped to promote fair deal-
ing, good faith and prevent lnjuetloe,by demylng frarrdulent
or frlvoleus flllmge sf oandldateswhloh might be made solely
for the purpose of deaelvlng,theelectorateand without any
Intentionor hope on the part of the aamdldate of being ma-
cessful. The Legislaturehas seen fit to lay down these
requialteaaB safeguards.
Therefore,beferelany oamdldatemay submit hlmaelf
to the qualified voters of this State, he must aomply with
the prerequisiteseet forth In the Artlole 3111, eupra. SUCh
requirement5are mamdatery. See oases elted, 20 G.J. #1X3,
p. 115; 290,J.S. #114, p.,153, lndlaatlng that It Is 80 held
umlvereally.
Honorable Hcmer L. lioea,Rage 4
And in HccCloinv. Betts, et al., (Civ.App. 1936) 95
S. W. (2d) 1311, the aourt said:
‘We have aarefullJr6xulned relator’8 appli-
cation to have hie name plannedon said ballot, a.S
above stated, and find that It contains everg mat-
ter required br law. The only arltlalar, a6 to
It6 legal mffioleno~; that osuld be rimed 16 that
relator did mat aokmGrle4ge hi8 request-erappllaa-
tlon for hi8 nane tb be )la@ed 06 the ballot aa re-
quired by Wbdlrlrl6n 1 of art1016 3111, B.S. 1925.
3kt he did vsrlfy 6ame br swearing that~all,offhi
faot6 stated in hi6 amUoatiun were true. lRe
purpose of requiring that ruoh appl1eatlonbe aa-
knouledged 16 to lnrrre t&e a99lloant~rgood faith,
and purpeee In makiw the riqaest, and a6 relator
duly verified by oath thr osntermbrof his amlloa-
tit% it wir ‘a iubrtmtlrl and rrffiolentoOipll-
anoo with the mtatmte.” (siii
In oonrtmlng a rtatutory wo r d lr phra6e the otmrt
mag t&e Into mnrPrideratlon the meanly ot the 6ame or 818llar
language umed eleewhere In thr Act or in anether of similar
mature. See oa8e6 alted, 39 Tex, Jurlr. #108, p. 201.
Artlole 3113, Vernmm~s A8iaotated
dlvil Statutes,
re*Qi3,in part, an rdbw8:
‘(Anyperusn Qe6lriry Al8 name to appear on
ths official ballot for the laseral primary, a6.a
oandldate fer the noalnatlsn for any @ifice to be
filled by the qualifleU voters of a’aounty or c’
portion thereof, or for oounty ahairman, shall
file with the aounty ohalnran of the county of his
reeldenoe,not later than SatEzr&ay~before the third
Monday in June preceding stpohprimary, a written
r6quest for his name ta,be printed on 6lzehoffl-
oial ballot UB a aandldate for the nminatlon or
position named titerein, giving his ocawpation and
mat-office addreee. nlvlnn street and number of
his reaideme, if witGin a-aity or town, euoh re-
And in Punahard, et al., v. Masterson, et al, 100
Tex. 479, 101 S. W. 204, the Supreme Court ealdr
I, Therefore,when an aaknowledgpaent
is pre&iied, without dealarlng of what the ac-
knowledgmentshall aonsiat, It is mea&Itthat the
grantor In a deed must appear beiore a duly au-
thorized sitleer and .state that he exeeuted th%
, .
Honorable Homer L. l4s66,page 5
. . lThle werd “aokmowi*adge’ besides
ZFiegal a&se in whlah It has fer a&turiea been
used, has alraoa c~mmo~reanlng, umdersfaod by
every one, which wmlf@rml~rralata6 to lsomething
pact. It la a 6OnfesaiQnor aQml66ien of 8ome
’ prIorMa&. I Reames v. Amber, 4 Leigh (Va.) 557.
. . .
The personla authorized to take achnawledgmentsare
emumerated~lnArtlole 6602, Vernon86 Annotated Civil Statutes.
lkvlew of the foregoing, It followslthat %he ap-
plloamt has nch cemp~&ed with the pmVf.6ien6 of Artlalea 3111
and 3112, supra, In &at he ha6 not made the required aaknewl-
edgment or verlflaatiom~norha6 he made a Hmubatantialaom-
plianoe” therewit&. Furthermore,the applleamt has not set
ferth hle oooupatlenon the applloatlona6 raqulred by eald
artlaler.
In mar opinion, therefore, the ohalkman of the
‘WheelerC@lantyDetieoratlo Exeoutlve Committee does not have
the right to sertlfy the name a? the applloant'for 4 pla@e
Is a oandldate for the &floe of State.~Representatl+e, 122nd
Dlstrlot of Texir, 6n the ballot to be used In the Demoaratla
Primary to be held om July 22, 194, In and for suoh ooumty.
Trurtlng thlB ratlrf*otorl.lj
amawern your Inquiry,
we are
Very truly yours,
A!i’TORNRYdEwIDRALOF TXXAS
Fred C. Chandler
Fred 0. Ohmdler
A6616tamt
BY/s/ Hlton
Baton N. Hyder, Jr.
N. Ryder, Jr.
EHlf:db
APPRQVBD J-UN7, a944
APPRQVBD OPINION COlUIUITTEE
Qrover Sellers BY /s/ BWB
CNAIRNAN”
ATTORNRY
QEWEBAL OF TEXAS