Supreme Court of Georgia, 1967

Smith v. Fortson

Smith v. Fortson
Supreme Court of Georgia · Decided January 6, 1967 · Almand, Duckworth
223 Ga. 23; 153 S.E.2d 540; 1967 Ga. LEXIS 398

Smith v. Fortson

Opinion of the Court

Almand, Presiding Justice.

The order of the trial court sustaining the general demurrer of Ben W. Fortson, Jr., Secretary of State, to the petition of Andrew A. Smith et al., seeking by the writ of mandamus to require the defendant in his official capacity as Secretary of State to call a special election to fill the office of Governor for the ensuing term of four years, was not erroneous.

Judgment affirmed.

All the Justices concur. Duckworth, C. J., and Cook, J., concur specially.

Concurring Opinion

Duckworth, Chief Justice,

concurring specially. I concur specially in the judgment of affirmance in this case for the reasons stated in my dissent in Jones v. Fortson, 223 Ga. 7, for the reason that a runoff must be held under the authority of section 34-1514 of the Election Code of 1964 (Ga. L. 1964, Ex. Sess.; p. 26; Code Ann. § 34-1514) before any other con*24sideration may be given to whether or not one of the candidates for Governor has received a majority of votes cast in the November General Election.

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