Gragg v. Dudley
| Decision Date | 03 June 1930 |
| Docket Number | Case Number: 21305 |
| Citation | 289 P. 254,143 Okla. 281,1930 OK 280 |
| Parties | GRAGG v. DUDLEY et al. |
| Court | Oklahoma Supreme Court |
¶0 1. States--Officers--Constitution Held not to Prohibit State Senator Becoming Candidate for Lieutenant Governor Because Legislature Raised Salary of Governor.
Section 23 of article 5 of the Constitution of Oklahoma provides: "No member of the Legislature shall, during the term for which he was elected, be appointed or elected to any office or commission in the state, which shall have been created, or the emoluments of which shall have been increased, during his term of office, nor shall any member receive any appointment from the Governor, the Governor and Senate, or from the Legislature, during the term for which he shall have been elected. * * *" Held, that this does not prohibit a member of the State Senate becoming a candidate for the office of Lieutenant Governor, where the Senate, of which he was a member, raised the salary of the Governor.
2. Same--Term of State Senator Held to Expire 15 Days After General Election in November.
Under and by virtue of section 9 of article 5 of the Constitution of Oklahoma, a state Senator elected at the general election held in November, 1926, for a term of four years, held that the term for which he is elected expires 15 days after the general election held in November, 1930, for the election of state officers.
3. Same--"Election" of State Officers Held not Complete Until Formal Announcement of Election Results by Newly Organized Legislature in January.
Section 26 of article 5 of the Constitution of Oklahoma provides that, "The members of the Legislature shall meet at the seat of government on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January at 12 o'clock, noon, in the year next succeeding their election or upon such other day as may be provided by law." And section 5 of article 6 of the Constitution of Oklahoma provides: Held, that under section 26 of article 5 and section 5 of article 6, supra, of the Constitution, a candidate for Lieutenant Governor, voted on at the general election in November, 1930, would not be elected and his election would not be complete until the result was announced as provided by this constitutional provision.
4. Same.
An election is a process which includes registration, nomination, the voting, and the manner in which the votes are to be counted and the results made known. Each of these steps must be taken, and a declaration of the result, as provided for by section 5 of article 6 of the Constitution, is indispensable to perfect and consummate the title to the office. And where the mode of so doing is commanded, until it is obeyed and such acts are done, the election is not complete.
Error from District Court, Oklahoma County; Sam Hooker, Judge.
Action by Ray Gragg against State Election Board, State Board of Affairs, and C. S. Storms, seeking injunctive relief. Judgment for defendants, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.
E. H. Bond, for plaintiff in error.
Thos. H. Owen, Ned Looney, and Paul Lindsey, for defendant in error C. S. Storms.
J. Berry King, Atty. Gen., and W. C. Lewis, Asst. Atty. Gen., for defendants in error State Election Board and State Board of Affairs.
Bruce L. Keenan, amicus curiae.
¶1 Plaintiff in error was plaintiff below and defendants in error were defendants below. The parties will be referred to as plaintiff and defendants. Plaintiff brought this suit in the district court of Oklahoma county, seeking injunctive relief against members of the State Board of Affairs, State Election Board of Oklahoma, and C. S. Storms, and to enjoin the State Election Board and State Board of Affairs front placing the name of C. S. Storms on the Democratic ticket as candidate before the primary election, seeking the nomination of the Democratic party for the office of Lieutenant Governor.
¶2 Said cause was submitted to the trial court on an agreed statement of facts, wherein it was agreed that Ray Gragg, as plaintiff, was a bona fide resident and taxpayer of Stephens county, Okla.; and that C. E. Dudley, John R. Williams, and Roy Coppock are the duly appointed and acting members of the State Board of Affairs, and that John E. Luttrell, N. D. Welty, and Cleon Summers constitute and are acting as the State Election Board of the state of Oklahoma. That the defendant C. S. Storms is and has been for several years a resident and qualified elector of Jefferson county, Okla., and the said C. S. Storms has heretofore declared his intention to be a candidate for nomination and election to the office of Lieutenant Governor in the primary election to be held on the 29th day of July, 1930, and the general election, if he receives the nomination, to be held on the 11th day of November, 1930; and that defendant Storms has filed with the State Election Board his written declaration and application requesting that his name be printed upon the official ballot as a candidate, subject to the Democratic primary, and that such application has been received by the State Election Board, and such board is about to direct the Board of Affairs to print the name of C. S. Storms upon the official ballot as a candidate for Lieutenant Governor, to be voted upon at the Democratic primary, and that the Board of Affairs will print or cause to be printed the name of said C. S. Storms on said ballot unless enjoined from so doing.
¶3 It is further agreed that C. S. Storms was elected as a member of the State Senate from the Seventeenth senatorial district for a term of four years beginning 15 days after the general election held in November, 1926, and that he was the regularly acting member of the Senate from said district during the entire session of the Twelfth Legislature, at which session the salary of the Governor of the state of Oklahoma was increased by the terms and under the provisions of chapter 273, Session Laws 1929, and that to he eligible to election and to serve as Lieutenant Governor he must possess the same qualifications as required under the law to be elected and to serve as Governor.
¶4 Plaintiff asks that the defendants be enjoined from placing the name of C. S. Storms on the ballot as candidate for Lieutenant Governor. The defendant C. S. Storms prays that he be adjudged eligible to election and to serve as Lieutenant Governor, and that plaintiff's application for an injunction be denied.
¶5 The court found, as a matter of law, that the defendant C. S. Storms was elected as a member of the State Senate from the Seventeenth senatorial district for a term of four years beginning 15 days after the general election held in November, 1926, and that said C. S. Storms qualified as such member of the State Senate and served as a member of the Twelfth Legislature, at which session the Legislature increased the salary of the Governor of the state of Oklahoma, under the terms and provisions of chapter 273 of Session Laws 1929, but did not increase the salary of the Lieutenant Governor.
¶6 The court further finds from the agreed statement of facts, and concludes as a matter of law, that the term which the said C. S. Storms was elected for the said State Senate will expire 15 days after the election to be held on the 11th day of November, 1930.
¶7 The court further finds, and concludes as a matter of law, that the term of the Lieutenant Governor begins on the second Monday of January, next after his election, and that a candidate for Lieutenant Governor, appearing on the official ballot in the regular election to be held on the 11th day of November, 1930, will not be elected until the returns of that election are canvassed and the result declared by the Legislature, convening on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in January succeeding the general election, as provided in section 5 of article 6 of the Constitution. The court denied plaintiff's application for an injunction and dismissed plaintiff's action, to which action of the court plaintiff excepted, and the cause was brought here for review.
¶8 Section 23 of article 5 of the Constitution of Oklahoma is in part as follows:
"No member of the Legislature shall, during the...
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McKye v. State Election Bd. of State of Oklahoma
...days after the general election in November with terms expiring fifteen days after the date of the general election. Gragg v. Dudley, 143 Okla. 281, 289 P. 254, 256 (1930); Coyle v. Smith, 28 Okla. 121, 113 P. 944, 946-947, aff'd., 221 U.S. 559, 31 S.Ct. 688, 55 L.Ed. 853 (1911); Daxon v. S......
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Scheirman v. Luber
...the annual meetings does not provide the manner of holding the election (sections 6786-6789, O. S. 1931). ¶6 This court, in Gragg v. Dudley, 143 Okla. 281, 289 P. 254, held: "An election is a process which Includes registration, nomination, the voting and the manner in which the votes are t......
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King v. Paxton, Case Number: 27976
...until the results of the election were determined and declared by the county election board on November 10, 1936. See Gragg v. Dudley, 143 Okla. 281, 289 P. 254. At that time the office was not vacant unless defendant's appointment was illegal and void. The record does not disclose an irreg......