Egly v. Armstrong County Commissioners
Egly v. Armstrong County Commissioners
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
There is no dispute as to the facts apparent from the record and proceedings in this case.
1. At a special election held under the order of the court for that purpose, the voters of Kittauning township, by a vote of 103 to 68, fixed the Smeltzer farm in said township as the place of election.
2. There is no room in the buildings upon said farm which can be fitted up with voting shelves, guard rails, and the other conveniences required by the 19th section of the act of 19th of June, 1891, known as the Baker Ballot Law.
3. Under these circumstances, the county commissioners fitted up a room on the John Sinclair farm in said township, one and one half miles distant from the Smeltzer farm.
The court below granted, after hearing on petition and answer, a peremptory mandamus on the commissioners, commanding them to fit up a room on the Smeltzer farm. From this decree comes this appeal.
Since the act of 2d of July, 1839, except temporarity in special cases, such as the division of townships, or the destruction of the building in which elections had formerly been held, or its conversion to uses which rendered it impossible of occu
Nor does the fact here complained of, that the county commissioners had no notice of the special election, at all affect the regularity of the record. The act does not require they shall have notice, for the very good reason that they have no interest in the matter. Where the place of election shall be is of importance only to those who must go to it to vote. For them provision is made; but it is of no more concern to the commissioners where this shall be than to any other county officers.
The commissioners interpret this to mean that if no such room can be obtained or rented at the place of election, then they can rent such room any place within the district. Under such a construction, instead of the voters of the district fixing the place of election, in very many cases that power would rest wholly with .the commissioners, those having no interest in the matter. Obviously, no such power was intended to be conferred. The act of 1891 neither expressly nor by implication repeals the acts of 1839 and 1854. Its reasonable meaning is that the commissioners are to provide for each election district, at the place for holding elections, a suitable room; if such room alreadjr constructed cannot be had, then a temporary one is to be provided at such place. It would have been wholly unnecessary to authorize the erection of a temporary room if the commissioners were at liberty to provide a room anywhere in the district, for there is not a district in the commonwealth, in some part of-which could not have been found a room already built of sufficient size; but there might, in some cases, be no such room at the place of election ; hence the authority given to construct a temporary one.
The commissioners clearly exceeded their authority in changing the place of election from the Smeltzer farm. If, as they aver, there is no room there of adequate size, then they must construct a temporary one. Their discretion, under the law, extends no further than determining whether there be one on the Smeltzer farm of adequate size.
The decree is affirmed, and appeal dismissed at costs of appellants.
Reference
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Elections — Polling places — County commissioners — Act of June 19, 1891. Under the act of June 19, 1891, § 19, P. L. 349, the county commissioners must construct a temporary room to be used as a polling place, if there is no room of adequate size at the place which the voters of the district have designated for the election. The commissioners are not at liberty in such a case to rent a room at any other place within the district. The act of June 19, 1891, P. L. .349, neither expressly nor by implication repeals the act of July 2, 1839, P. L. 530, or the act of April 20, 1854, P. L. 419.