Baker v. Marcum, Sr.

• Decision Date: 22 October 1926
• Citation: 216 Ky. 210
• Parties: Baker v. Marcum, Sr.
• Court: United States State Supreme Court — District of Kentucky

216 Ky. 210

Baker v. Marcum, Sr.

Court of Appeals of Kentucky.

Decided October 22, 1926.

1. Elections. — Nominee at primary, who failed to file certificate of nomination, held validly nominated by certificate of county chairman acting under Kentucky Statutes, section 1464; no action having been taken by party committee under section 1550-5.

2. Elections — Use of Pasters at Election Held Unnecessary, where Name of Candidate Nominated by Certificate of County Chairman

was Already on Ballot, though Improperly Placed There (Kentucky Statutes, Section 1464). — Where name of nominee who failed to file certificate of nomination 45 days before election was improperly printed on ballot, and thereafter the same person was nominated by certificate of county chairman, under Kentucky Statutes, section 1464, held use of pasters at election bearing name of candidate so nominated to be pasted over his name already on ballot was not necessary.

3. Elections. — Election laws must be interpreted along sound and reasonable lines and not so technically as to defeat the will of the public or place unnecessary burden on electors.

Appeal from Clay Circuit Court.

MURRAY L. BROWN, MORRIS & JONES and MARTIN T. KELLY, for appellant.

ROY W. HOUSE and WILLIAM LEWIS & SON for appellee.

OPINION OF THE COURT BY TURNER, COMMISSIONER.

Affirming.

Appellee was nominated in the August primary, 1925, as the Republican candidate for jailer of Clay county. Shortly thereafter he received his certificate of nomination, but did not file the same forty-five days before the regular election as is required by law.

Appellant as an independent candidate filed her petition with the county court clerk with the required number of electors signing same, and filed it more than forty-five days before the regular election.

Although the failure of appellee to file his certificate of nomination in the time required by law created a vacancy in that nomination (Lewis v. Mosely, 215 Ky. 573) no effective steps were taken by the party committee under the provisions of section 1550-5 to fill that vacancy until after the ballots for the regular election had been printed with appellee's name wrongfully printed thereon because of his failure to file his certificate in time. Then after the printing of the ballots with appellee's name so wrongfully printed thereon as the Republican nominee the chairman of the Republican county committee recognizing the existence of a vacancy in such nomination, and acting under authority of section 1464, Ky. Stats., certified to the county court clerk the name of appellee as the nominee of the party to fill such vacancy, and designated him as such nominee; and also undertook in that certificate to provide for the use of pasters by the election officers at the regular election. This was on the 31st day of October, 1925, only a few days before the regular election and at a time when the ballots for that election had already been printed.

At the election no pasters were in fact used, but as appellee's name had before the filing of that certificate with the county clerk already been wrongfully printed upon the official ballots, the electors instead of using the pasters or going through the useless form of pasting over his name already on the ballot a paster containing the same name, voted for him either...