Smith v. Blackwell, 4710.

• Decision Date: 21 October 1940
• Docket Number: No. 4710.,4710.
• Citation: 115 F.2d 186
• Parties: SMITH et al. v. BLACKWELL, Secretary of State, et al.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

115 F.2d 186 (1940)

SMITH et al. v. BLACKWELL, Secretary of State, et al.

No. 4710.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

October 21, 1940.

Marion W. Seabrook, of Sumter, S. C. (C. B. Ruffin, of Hartsville, S. C., on the brief), for appellants.

T. C. Callison, Asst. Atty. Gen., and John M. Daniel, Atty. Gen. of South Carolina (M. J. Hough, Asst. Atty. Gen., on the brief), for appellees.

Before PARKER, SOPER, and DOBIE, Circuit Judges.

PARKER, Circuit Judge.

This suit was instituted in the court below by qualified electors of the State of South Carolina to obtain a declaratory judgment to the effect that the South Carolina election law as administered is violative of the requirements of the federal statutes, in that it does not adequately preserve secrecy of the ballot, and to obtain an order requiring the "names of all candidates for all political parties to be printed on the same tickets, which may be marked in private and curtained booths according to the principles of the so-called Australian system of voting, or any other system that will in truth and fact assure secrecy", and enjoining the use of any other form of ballot or method of voting. The defendants were the Secretary of State of South Carolina and the Commissioners of Federal Elections in certain counties of the state. From an order dismissing the complaint, the plaintiffs have appealed.

The South Carolina election law is contained in sections 2298-2309 of the Code of Laws of South Carolina of 1932. Section 2304 thereof relates to the form of ballots and the manner of voting and is as follows: "There shall be three separate and distinct ballots, as follows: One ballot for United States Senator, Representatives in Congress and Presidential electors; and one ballot for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, state officers, Circuit Solicitors, members of the House of Representatives, State Senator, county officers and one ballot for all Constitutional amendments and special questions, each of three said boxes to be appropriately labeled; which ballots shall be of plain white paper and of such width and length as to contain the names of the officer or officers and question or questions to be voted for or upon, clear and even cut, without ornament, designation, mutilation, symbol or mark of any kind whatsoever, except the name or names of the person or persons voted for and the office to which such person or persons are intended to be chosen, and all special questions, which name or names, officer or officers, question or questions shall be written or printed or partly written or partly printed thereon in black ink; and such ballot shall be so folded as to conceal the name or names, question or questions thereon, and so folded shall be deposited in a box to be constructed, kept and disposed of as herein provided by law, and no ballot of any other description found in either of said boxes shall be counted."

There is nothing in any of these sections which imposes upon any of the defendants any duties with respect to furnishing ballots for the use of the voters or exercising supervision of any sort over the manner in which voting is conducted. The Secretary of State has nothing to do with the election until after the voting is concluded and the returns are being canvassed, and the federal commissioners of election are required, so far as the voting is concerned, merely to appoint managers to conduct the election and to provide ballot boxes. In Gardner v. Blackwell, 167 S.C. 313, 166 S.E. 338, 340, the Supreme Court of South Carolina, in interpreting these sections, said:

"We have examined carefully the sections of our Code of laws to which we have already adverted, and, in addition thereto, sections 2310 to 2316, volume 2, of the Code, relating to `The Board of County Canvassers,' and sections 2317 to 2329, Id., under the title of `The Board of State Canvassers.' We have not found in any of these statutes any provision whatever authorizing or requiring the Governor of the state, the secretary of state, the state board of canvassers, the county board of canvassers, the election commissioners, either federal or state, or managers of elections, to print, provide, or furnish ballots for any general election. On the contrary, it appears to us that the duty of printing or providing ballots for the general elections has not been imposed by any statute upon any officer, state or county. The Constitution of the state is likewise absolutely silent in this regard.

* * *

"It appears from the record here, and from the history of the conduct of general elections in this state, of which this court may take judicial notice, a fact which the petitioners do not attempt to controvert, that continuously since 1882, in the general elections of this state, the ballots voted have been such as were furnished by the respective political parties participating in such election, and that on such ballots there have appeared only the names of the candidates for the respective offices put in nomination by such political parties, and the offices voted for. At no time throughout all these...