Bedingfield v. Adams

• Decision Date: 19 May 1965
• Docket Number: No. 22921,22921
• Parties: Ralph BEDINGFIELD et al. v. W. H. ADAMS, Ordinary, et al.
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court

Page 915

142 S.E.2d 915

221 Ga. 69

Ralph BEDINGFIELD et al. v. W. H. ADAMS, Ordinary, et al.

No. 22921.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

May 19, 1965.

Rehearing Denied May 31, 1965.

Syllabus by the Court

1. The petition praying that the writ of mandamus issue requiring the ordinary to perform acts which he is under no legal duty to perform failed to state a cause of action and was subject to general demurrer as held by the trial court.

Jones & Douglas, Paul J. Jones, Jr., Dublin, N. G. Reeves, Jr., Soperton, Bloch, Hall, Groover & Hawkins, Denmark Groover, Jr., Macon, for plaintiffs in error.

William Malcolm Towson, Dublin, King & Spalding, Pope B. McIntire, Robert L. Steed, Eugene Cook, Atty. Gen., Paul Rodgers, Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, for defendants in error.

MOBLEY, Justice.

Plaintiffs in error alleging themselves to be residents, citizens, and taxpayers of Laurens County, Ga., brought their petition as amended, against the Ordinary of Laurens County and the Secretary of State of Georgia praying for issue of the writ of mandamus requiring them to do certain things hereafter stated.

In brief the petition alleges that the General Assembly (Ga.L.1964, pp. 903-906) adopted a resolution proposing an amendment to the Constitution of Georgia so as to create the Dublin-Laurens School System by merging the Independent School System of the City of Dublin and the County School System of Laurens County, and providing for submission of that amendment for ratification or rejection of the voters of the two systems; that the amendment was not general and, under the 1945 Constitution Art. XIII, Sec. I Par. I (Code Ann. § 2-8101) (Ga.L.1956, p. 637), it was required to be submitted to the voters of the political subdivision or subdivisions affected, which were the Dublin School District, which composed a portion of the Dublin Election District, and the Laurens County School System, which included all of the county not in the Dublin School District; that at the November 3, 1964, election the ordinary caused the proposed amendment to be placed on the ballot and the issue was voted upon, but not separately by the Dublin School System and the Laurens School System, in that the ordinary did not confine the voting of the Dublin School System to the area embraced therein but included all of that area in the Dublin Election District which included several hundred votes outside the Dublin School System, which votes should have been included in the Laurens County School System vote; and further, all absentee ballots, which numbered several hundred, were counted in the Dublin School System, whereas the law requires that they be counted in the Militia District in which the voter lives.

The ordinary canvassed the returns and reported to the Secretary of State the vote, showing that both political subdivisions affected had voted for ratification, which result was certified to the Governor, who in turn issued his proclamation declaring the amendment ratified. Further, it is alleged that it is impossible to tell how many votes were cast for ratification in each system, as the votes were commingled and the ordinary is now unable to certify the result of the voting in the political subdivisions affected; that the ordinary certified to the Secretary of State the vote cast in the Dublin Election District and not that cast in the Dublin School System, the political subdivision affected, and certified the vote cast outside the Dublin Election District, which did not include all of the vote of the Laurens County School System.

The prayers were that the ordinary be required to amend and correct his return to the Secretary of State to show that all absentee ballots cast were counted and returned in the vote of the Dublin Election District and not in each militia district as required by law; to show that the ballots of the two systems were so intermingled that it is impossible to determine whether the amendment was ratified by the voters of the Dublin School System; and to show further that the amendment was not submitted directly and separately to the voters of the Dublin School System nor to the Laurens County School System; and to show that it is impossible to determine whether either school district ratified the amendment. As to the Secretary of State the prayers were; that he be required to examine the returns and report made to him by the ordinary and correctly certify to the Governor the...