Gaspard v. Whorton, 5-3629
| Decision Date | 18 October 1965 |
| Docket Number | No. 5-3629,5-3629 |
| Citation | 239 Ark. 849,394 S.W.2d 621 |
| Parties | Joseph B. GASPARD et al., Appellants, v. Charles WHORTON, Jr., Appellee. |
| Court | Arkansas Supreme Court |
Bob Scott, Rogers, for appellants.
No appearance for appellee.
This appeal arises from dismissal of a petition for writ of mandamus. Appellant petitioners, Joseph B. Gaspard and others, sought to require appellee Charles Whorton, Jr., Madison County Clerk, to allow appellants to copy the list of applications for absentee ballots, the individual applications for absentee ballots and the accompanying absentee voters statements for the November 3, 1964, general election in Madison County. After hearing on January 6, 1965, the Madison Chancery Court found that appellants had failed to prove that appellee refused to permit them to photocopy these records and dismissed the petition, from which petitioners have appealed.
The trial court did not reach the question of entitlement--whether appellants were entitled to copy these records. The ruling turned on the fact question of whether proper request was made by appellants to appellee to permit them to copy these records. Our review of the evidence discloses that an unmistakable request was made and permission clearly denied. Thus this court reaches the merits on trial de novo.
Appellants asked to copy (1) the list of applications for absentee ballots, (2) the applications for absentee ballots, and (3) the voters statements which accompanied the absentee ballots (as distinguished from the list of all persons who voted in the election). Ark.Stat.Ann. § 3-1127 and § 3-1133 (Repl.1956) specify that the list of applications, the applications and the statements of voters 'shall be available to public inspection during regular business hours' and are therefore public records. This being true we find that appellants were entitled to copy these records and should have been given permission to do so. See Whorton v. Gaspard, 239 Ark. 715, 393 S.W.2d 773. The denial to the public of reasonable access to public records by public officials is not conducive to the perpetuation of our form of government.
The decree of the trial court is accordingly reversed and the cause remanded with directions that the writ of mandamus issue.
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...to examine public records. Republican Party of Ark. v. State ex rel. Hall, 240 Ark. 545, 400 S.W.2d 660 (1966); Gaspard v. Whorton, 239 Ark. 849, 394 S.W.2d 621 (1965). As far as the case at bar is concerned, the pertinent parts of the act are as Section 2. Declaration of Public Policy.--It......
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Whorton v. Gaspard, s. 5-3628
...trial court. Upon appeal by petitioners to this Court we reversed the case. That case may be referred to as No. 5-3629 (Gaspard v. Whorton, 239 Ark. 849, 394 S.W.2d 621). On March 3, 1965, and during pendency of appeal in cases No. 5-3628 and No. 5-3629, petitioners filed in this Court a 'M......
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Republican Party of Ark. v. State ex rel. Hall
...of proposed highways. These types of records are not under consideration here. Suffice it to say, our holding in Gaspard v. Whorton, 239 Ark. 849, 394 S.W.2d 621 (on ballot applications), is equally apropos here: 'The denial to the public of reasonable access to public records by public off......