State ex rel. Beck v. Hummel
| Decision Date | 22 July 1948 |
| Docket Number | 31496,31498. |
| Parties | STATE ex rel. BECK et al. v. HUMMEL. ZAHM v. HUMMEL. |
| Court | Ohio Supreme Court |
Syllabus by theCourt
1. Section 4785-100a, General Code, requires the Secretary of State to investigate the facts appearing in the affidavit provided for in that section and a finding and certification by him whether the party or group on whose behalf the affidavit is made is entitled to have a place on the ballot. Although ordinarily this court will not substitute its judgment for that of the Secretary of State as to inferences to be drawn from the facts developed from his investigation if he finds and certifies that the party or group on whose behalf the affidavit is made is not entitled to have a place on the ballot, such finding and certification will be reversed and set aside where it appears in the record of his investigation that there is no substantial evidence to controvert the truth or the good faith of the affidavit filed.
2. Under Section 1, Article II of the Constitution of the United States, the General Assembly is empowered and authorized to provide the method by which presidential electors are chosen in this state. Although the General Assembly may impose reasonable restrictions upon the rights of citizens to have their names as candidates for presidential electors printed on the official presidential ballot statutes in reference thereto should be liberally construed with a view of affording to each citizen the right to vote according to his belief or free choice.
3. Section 4785-74, General Code, provides for the nomination of candidates for election as presidential electors for those political parties which have nominated candidates for president and vice-president in national conventions to which delegates and alternates of this state have been elected at the primary elections in presidential years. Section 4785-107, General Code, provides for the placing of the names upon the presidential ballot in this state of candidates for president and vice-president of the United States who have been nominated as such by the national conventions of those political parties to which delegates and alternates were elected at the next preceding primary election. The names of no other candidates for election to the offices of president and vice-president of the United States are authorized to be placed upon the presidential ballot in Ohio.
4. Although the names of the candidates for election to the offices of president and vice-president of the United States who have been nominated as above described, are authorized to be placed upon the presidential ballot of this state, no voter casts a direct vote for them and a ballot marked in their favor is counted only as a vote in favor of the electors who have been chosen pursuant to Section 4785-74, General Code.
5. A candidate for presidential elector in this state is a candidate for election to an office. Section 4785-91, General Code, provides for the nomination of independent candidates for election to office. Where independent candidates have prima facie complied with all the provisions of such section, the Secretary of State is required to process their nominating petitions pursuant to Section 4785-92, General Code. If, as a result of such processing, it is ascertained that compliance of the independent presidential-elector candidates with Section 4785-91, General Code, is fully complete, they are entitled to have their names printed upon the presidential ballot as such candidates.
Appeal from the Secretary of State.
These two cases are so interrelated that they are considered together.
Case No. 31496 is an action in mandamus originating in this court, and case No. 31498 is an appeal from a finding of the Secretary of State, pursuant to Section 4785-100 a, General Code.
On April 6, 1948, the Ohio Wallace-for-President Committee, an unincorporated, independent group of citizens of Ohio, filed with the Secretary of State an affidavit which stated, inter alia, that the group does not advocate, either directly or indirectly, the overthrow by force or violence of our local, state or national government; and that it does not carry on any program of sedition or treason by radio, speech or press.
The Secretary of State, pursuant to Section 4785-100 a, General Code, certified that this group is not entitled to have a place on the presidential ballot in the election of 1948. There was an appeal from the finding of the Secretary of State to this court, in case No. 31498, and such case is here as a matter of right.
On June 10, 1948, the 25 relators, in case No. 31496, filed a petition for a writ of mandamus against respondent Edward J. Hummel as Secretary of State and chief election officer of the state.
The petition recites that respondent as chief election officer is the official with whom petitions are filed, which nominate candidates whose elections are to be determined by the electors of the state at large, and who is charged by law with the duty of supervising and processing such petitions and placing on the ballots the names of those duly nominated as candidates for state offices; that the relators are each possessed of the qualifications of an elector and are electors of the state; that a general election will be held in Ohio on November 2, 1948, when, together with other officers, 25 presidential electors of the state for 1948 will be elected by the voters of the state at large; and that the duties of the presidential electors who are elected are to meet in the state capitol at noon on a day designated by the Congress of the United States for the purpose of voting by ballot for president and vicepresident of the United States for the term commencing in 1949, to make, sign and certify a list of all the persons voted for, the number of votes for each, and to transmit the list to the president of the United States Senate in Washington, D. C.
The petition recites further that petitions have been circulated among the electors of Ohio to nominate relators and each of them as independent candidates for election to the offices of presidential electors to vote for Henry A. Wallace for president and Glen H. Taylor for vice-president, each of whom resides in a state other than Ohio and who are constitutionally eligible to be elected to those offices.
The petition recites further that the aforesaid nominating petitions were tendered to respondent on June 10, 1948, accompanied by the written acceptance of the nominations by the relators and each of them as independent candidates for the offices of the 25 presidential electors of Ohio in 1948; and that such petitions indicate thereon that the relators and each of them were being nominated to vote for and as representatives of the candidacies of Wallace for president and Taylor for vice-president.
The petition recites further that the nominating petitions comply with all the provisions of Section 4785-91, General Code, and that respondent refused to accept and file such petitions and transmit separate petition papers to the proper county boards of elections in order that such boards might examine and determine the validity of the signatures on the petition papers.
The petition recites further that respondent refused to accept, file and process such nominating petitions because the statutes prohibit the placing on the presidential ballot or any other ballot at the general election to be held November 2, 1948, the names of candidates for president and vicepresident or the candidates for presidential electors representing candidates, unless the candidates for president and vice-president were nominated as candidates for election to those offices by national conventions of political parties to which delegates or alternates were elected at the next preceding primary election, and unless the candidates for presidential electors in Ohio are nominated as candidates for such offices at a state convention of a political party (pursuant to Section 4785-74, General Code).
The petition recites further that independent candidates for presidential electors of Ohio may be nominated pursuant to Section 4785-91, General Code.
The petition recites further that if it be held that the election laws of Ohio do not permit the nomination of any candidates for election as presidential electors except those of the Democratic or Republican parties, such laws are unreasonable, arbitrary and violative of Section 2, Article I, Section 1, Article V, and Section 4, Article XV of the Constitution of Ohio, and the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States.
The petition prays for a writ of mandamus commanding the respondent to accept and file the nominating petitions of the presidential electors of Ohio tendered to him and to promptly transmit separate petition papers to the proper county boards of elections for action in accordance with Section 4785-92, General Code, and, if the nominating petitions comply with the statutes, commanding the respondent to place the names of Henry A. Wallace and Glen H. Taylor as independent candidates for the offices of president and vice-president of the United States of the official presidential ballot of the state of Ohio; that a vote for such candidates be counted and considered as a vote for each of the relators herein as candidates for election as presidential electors of the state for 1948; and that the court grant such other and further or alternative relief as is necessary and proper to fully protect the rights of the relators herein and of all other citizens of the state of Ohio and the United States of America.
By leave of court the petition was amended by adding to...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Socialist Labor Party v. Gilligan 8212 21
...F.Supp. 983 (Ohio 1968); State ex rel. Bible v. Board of Elections, 22 Ohio St.2d 57, 258 N.E.2d 227; see also State ex rel. Beck v. Hummel, 150 Ohio St. 127, 80 N.E.2d 899. ...