State ex rel. McCarthy v. Moore
| Decision Date | 31 October 1902 |
| Docket Number | 13,353 - (269) |
| Citation | 92 N.W. 4,87 Minn. 308 |
| Parties | STATE ex rel. W. F. McCARTHY v. JOHN H. MOORE |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Order of the supreme court directing John H. Moore, as auditor of Scott county, to show cause why a writ of mandamus should not issue requiring him to place upon the official ballot of Scott county the name of relator as an independent candidate for the office of superintendent of schools to be voted on at the November, 1902, general election. Order to show cause discharged.
Primary Election -- Political Parties.
The legislature may recognize the existence of political parties and within reasonable limits regulate the means by which partisan efforts should be protected in exercising individual preferences for party candidates, which is the general purpose of the primary election law of this state.
Candidates -- Regulations.
Under the constitution every person who is entitled to vote is eligible to office, but eligibility does not entitle a candidate to equal advantages in all the practical conditions under which he may seek office, nor prohibit the legislature from imposing fair and reasonable restrictions on an aspirant in soliciting the support of his fellow citizens at the polls.
Defeated Candidates.
Laws 1901, c. 216, § 9, which prohibits a candidate who sought a nomination from a political party at a primary election, who has been unsuccessful, from having his name printed on the official ballot as an independent candidate for the same office, is a reasonable regulation, since the blank space provided for by law in the official ballot, where the voters may write his name, protects his eligibility, and enables him to be elected if he receives the requisite votes.
Constitution.
Held that portion of Laws 1901, c. 216, § 9, which prohibits a contestant for a party nomination at the primary election from having his name placed on the official ballot, is not obnoxious to section 7, article 7, of the state constitution.
H. J. Peck, for relator.
W. C. Odell and E. Southworth, for respondent.
This is an order directed to the auditor of Scott county requiring him to show cause why he should not place the name of petitioner upon the county official ballot as an independent candidate for superintendent of schools in Scott county. At the last primary election held in that county the petitioner and one H. J. Fitzpatrick were properly placed upon the primary election ballot as the contesting candidates for the Democratic nomination for superintendent of schools. Fitzpatrick received a majority of the votes and has been duly accorded a place on the official ballot. Petitioner thereafter caused a petition signed by more than ten per cent. in number of the voters voting at the last general election in his county to be presented to the respondent, demanding in due form a place on the official ballot as an independent candidate for the office he sought at the primary election as a Democrat. The auditor declined to accede to this request.
We have held that, petitioner's name having been placed upon the primary election ballot, at which he was a contestant for the Democratic nomination of school superintendent, he comes within the provision of Laws 1901, c. 216, § 9, which provides that
"No names of candidates * * * upon the primary election ballot * * * shall be placed upon the official election ballot unless such candidates have been chosen in accordance with this act, except in case of a vacancy occasioned by the death, removal or resignation," etc.
There is no vacancy by death or otherwise among the candidates for superintendent of schools in Scott county, and it is very clear that petitioner, having been an aspirant for the nomination of a political party at the primary election after failure to obtain the same has no right to secure a place on the official ballot against the express terms of section 9, supra, unless upon the contention of petitioner that this statutory prohibition is in violation of section 7, article 7, of the...
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