Higgins v. Lockwood
| Decision Date | 20 July 1906 |
| Citation | 64 A. 184,74 N.J.L. 158 |
| Parties | HIGGINS v. LOCKWOOD et al. |
| Court | New Jersey Supreme Court |
(Syllabus by the Court.)
Application by the state, on the relation of Frank J. Higgins, for a writ of mandamus against Frank T. Lockwood, clerk of the Hudson county board of elections, and the Hudson county board of elections. Rule to show cause why mandamus should not issue to compel respondents to permit relator to inspect and take copies of the registry list used in the election of 1905 and in the custody of such board. Rule made absolute.
Argued June term, 1900, before FORT and REED, JJ.
J. Merritt Lane, for relator. J. Emil Walscheid and James C Clark, for respondents.
The relator is a citizen of New Jersey and a legal voter in Hudson county. Frank T. Lockwood is clerk of the Hudson county board of election, which board is composed of four citizens of Hudson county. The testimony taken to be used upon the return of this rule clearly discloses that the relator was refused permission to inspect and make copies of the registration lists in the custody of the Hudson county board of elections, after another person had been directed to cease making copies by order of one of the members of the board. The intention of at least two members of this board of four to forbid such inspection and copying is too manifest for further discussion. The question is then presented whether Mr. Higgins as a citizen and voter has a right to make such inspection and take copies of the said registry lists.
Section 15 of the act to regulate elections (P. L. 1898, pp. 237-242) directs that the county board of elections in each county shall cause to be made a complete register of all the legal voters of the respective counties. Section 22 of this act respects the registration in cities of over 40,000 people, and provides that on the day after the completion of the registration of voters one copy shall be delivered by the chairman of the county board of elections to be filed by them, one copy shall be posted in said district for public inspection, and one copy shall be retained by the judge for use by the district board on the day of election. In the registration in districts outside of cities of over 40,000 population, a copy of the completed register is to be filed with the clerk of the township, city, or other municipality within which such election district may be situated, and on the day succeeding the completion of the register a copy is to be delivered to the county board of election, to be filed by them as mentioned in respect to the preceeding registration. So, in respect to the registration in other municipalities, the provision is that a copy of the revised and corrected register shall be filed with the county board of elections. The registration under the act of 1898 contained the names and residences of the eligible voters of the election district.
In 1903 (P. L. 1903. p. 603) there was passed a supplement to the preceding statute, which supplement is known as the "Primary Election Act." This act provides that primaries of all political parties shall be held at the same time; that the elections shall be held substantially as general elections for members of assembly are conducted, with ballot boxes, official ballots, registry lists and polling booths. Section 13 of this act enacts that any voter who shall vote in ballot boxes for one political party at any primary election held under the act, shall not be allowed to vote in ballot boxes of another political party at the next thereafter succeeding primary election. It further provides that said board of registry and election shall indicate on the registry book the first letter of the name of the political party; as, for example, writing the letter D for the Democratic Party, and the letter R for the Republican Party, and the letter P for the Prohibition Party. So it is perceived that since this act of 1903 came into existence the registry list, in addition to the names and residences of the eligible voters, has...
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MacEwan v. Holm
...supra; Burton v. Tuite, 1889, 78 Mich. 363, 44 N.W. 282, 7 L.R.A. 73; 1890, 80 Mich. 218, 45 N.W. 88, 7 L.R.A. 824; Higgins v. Lockwood, 1906, 74 N.J.L. 158, 64 A. 184; Cross, op. cit. supra, pp. 26-29. Our statutes referred to above grant the right of a reasonably conducted inspection with......
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... ... 1492 C. S ... Clay v. Ballard, (Va.) 13 S.E. 262-263; State v ... Williams, (Mo.) 8 S.W. 771; Higgins v. Lockwood, (N ... J.) 64 A. 184-185. Under the statutes above referred to, ... all election returns including the affidavits referred to are ... ...
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