State ex rel. Catts v. Crawford

Supreme Court of Florida
State ex rel. Catts v. Crawford, 72 Fla. 253 (Fla. 1916)
73 So. 588

State ex rel. Catts v. Crawford

Opinion of the Court

Per Curiam.

—The Prayer of the petition is that the State Canvassing Board be compelled to add the sixty-nine votes from Precinct Number 3 in Alachua County to the canvass made on September 21st, and from this to declare as a result that the relator is the nominee of the Democratic party for the office of Governor.

The canvass referred to was made under the order of this Court based upon amended and corrected returns *254then before said Board. The writ here prayed confines that Board to the returns before it on said date and takes from its consideration any amended or corrected returns since filed. In other words, it seeks to have the State Canvassing Board declare not the true result of the primary election, as shown by the returns before it, but a result arrived at by a tabulation based upon inaccurate returns, that may have been superseded by recounts, the accuracy of which is not questioned by the relator.

By confining the State Canvassing Board to an antecedent date, the pleader has industriously excluded from its consideration any account of subsequent corrections of the various county returns, however meritorious and unimpeachable.

The alternative writ is denied.

Reference

Full Case Name
State of Florida, ex rel. Sidney J. Catts, Relator v. H. Clay Crawford, Thomas F. West and J. C. Luning, Secretary of State, Attorney General and State Treasurer, Respectively, Constituting the State Canvassing Board for Democratic Primary of June 6th, 1916
Cited By
1 case
Status
Published
Syllabus
The State Canvassing Board will not by mandamus be required to reconvene and to canvass inaccurate returns of a primary election that may have been superseded by amended and corrected returns made in judicial proceedings the accuracy of which latter is not questioned.