Turnis v. Board of Ed. In and For Jones County, 50290

• Decision Date: 02 May 1961
• Docket Number: No. 50290,50290
• Parties: George TURNIS, Clarence Turnis and Arnold Turnis, Appellants, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION in and for JONES COUNTY, Iowa, and Board of Education in and for Linn County, Iowa, and Board of Education in and for Delaware County, Iowa, and Board of Education in and for Dubuque County, Iowa, Acting as a Single Board, and Paul Jarman, Secretary of said Single Board and County Superintendent of Schools of Jones County, Iowa, Appellees.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

Page 198

109 N.W.2d 198

252 Iowa 922

George TURNIS, Clarence Turnis and Arnold Turnis, Appellants, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION in and for JONES COUNTY, Iowa, and Board of Education in and for Linn County, Iowa, and Board of Education in and for Delaware County, Iowa, and Board of Education in and for Dubuque County, Iowa, Acting as a Single Board, and Paul Jarman, Secretary of said Single Board and County Superintendent of Schools of Jones County, Iowa, Appellees.

No. 50290.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

May 2, 1961.

T. M. Ingersoll and Wayne C. Collins, Cedar Rapids, for appellants.

Rex Schrader, Jones County Atty., Monticello, J. E. Heiserman and James T. Remley, Anamosa, and E. W. Brashaw, Monticello, for appellees.

LARSON, Justice.

Under Rules 308 to 319, Rules of Civil Procedure, 58 I.C.A. plaintiffs filed their petition for a writ of certiorari challenging the jurisdiction and certain acts of the boards of education of Jones, Linn, Dubuque and Delaware Counties, acting as a single board, and its secretary, and the County Superintendent of Schools of Jones County, Iowa. It involves the formation of the Monticello Community School District, referred to herein as the Monticello District, pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 275 of the 1958 Code of Iowa, I.C.A. as amended by the Acts of the 58th General Assembly in 1959 where applicable by the effective date. The plaintiffs are individuals residing or owning land within the proposed reorganized district. The trial court correctly annulled the writ.

The scope of the appeal before us is limited to four assigned errors. In order to conserve space, we shall not list them here but will consider them and the facts involved in the order of their assignment.

I. Appellants contend the trial court erred in holding the election for the proposed district was valid when one of the polling places specified and used was outside the geographical boundaries of the school district. There is no dispute as to the facts concerning this alleged error. The schoolhouse designated and used was just a few feet beyond the boundary line of the proposed district which divided the then-existing Union No. 5 District. The designating officers were mistaken in their belief that the schoolhouse in existing Union No. 5 was inside the proposed district, but they were not mistaken in the fact that for over twenty-four years the polling place for school elections in that district had been held in that schoolhouse. It appears in the record that on June 2, 1959, the election date, seventeen qualified voters lived within that portion of Union No. 5 which was to be included in the proposed Monticello District. Twelve of them voted at this schoolhouse, all favorable. Five did not vote. The election carried overall by a vote of approximately 1,200 in favor and 184 against. Obviously, then, the results either in that district or overall would not change no matter how the other five would have voted. Nevertheless, appellants contend the statutory requirement that the polling place be within the district was a jurisdictional requirement and, as it was not followed, the entire election was void. Appellees contend it was a mere irregularity and, under the facts of this case, would not be a sufficient deviation from the statute requirements to disenfranchise those who favored the proposal or to void the election. We agree with appellees.

Section 275.20, Code of 1958, I.C.A., provides specifically that 'The voters shall vote separately in each existing school district affected or portion thereof upon the proposition to create such new school corporation. School districts affected or portions thereof shall be defined to mean that area included within the boundaries of the proposed new school corporation * * *.'

While the regulation is clear as to where voters shall vote, we find no provision which makes absolute compliance a jurisdictional matter, nor does the statute indicate that a failure to comply makes the election void. In the absence of such specific legislative directive, the general rule as to elections would apply. Appellants seem to agree with that rule, for here they refer us to Chapter 277 of the Code relating to school elections and also to Chapter 49 relating to other elections. The rule is set out in 29 C.J.S. Elections § 199, page 284, and 18 Am.Jur., Elections, § 113, page 251, and § 206, page 319, § 224, page 330. Generally speaking, it provides that 'Statutory regulations governing place of voting are subject to strict enforcement and may be construed as mandatory before the election. After the election, however, such regulations are ordinarily construed as merely directory.' 29 C.J.S. Elections § 199, p. 284. Specifically, these are provisos. While most courts generally follow the rule that after an election has been held, the statutory regulations are construed as directory, they qualify it by saying that in the absence of fraud or bad faith or constitutional violation, an election which has resulted in a fair and free expression of the will of the legal voters upon the merits will not be invalidated because of a departure from the statutory regulations governing the conduct of the election, except in those cases where the legislature has clearly and unequivocally expressed an intent that a specific statutory provision is an essential jurisdictional prerequisite and that a departure therefrom shall have the drastic consequences of invalidity. Erickson v. Sammons, 242 Minn. 345, 65 N.W.2d 198, 202; State ex rel. School District No. 56, Traverse County v. Schmiesing, 243 Minn. 11, 66 N.W.2d 20, 26; Christenson v. Felton, 226 Ark. 985, 295 S.W.2d 361; School District No. 49, In Lincoln County v. School Dist. No. 65-R, 159 Neb. 262, 66 N.W.2d 561; State ex rel. Marlowe v. Himmelberger-Harrison Lumber Co., 332 Mo. 379, 58 S.W.2d 750; In re Contest of Election of Vetsch, 245 Minn. 229, 71 N.W.2d 652; Tebbe v. Smith, 108 Cal. 101, 111, 41 P. 454, 457, 29 L.R.A. 673; Jones v. State, 153 Ind. 440, 55 N.E. 229, 232; 18 Am.Jur., Elections, § 114, page 525, § 206, page 319; 29 C.J.S. Elections § 78, page 104, § 199, page 284.

We subscribe to that view and, although not specifically stated in any recent case, we attempted to follow that rule in the case of State ex rel. Warrington v. Community School District of St. Ansgar, 247 Iowa 1167, 78 N.W.2d 86, cited by both parties herein. Two departures from the statutory directive were involved therein, one slight and inconsequential which consisted of moving a polling place next door to the place designated, and the other a vital and consequential departure where not only were separate polling places not provided in each district, but it appeared the only polling place provided was so far removed from the places designated that it discouraged and prevented voting by qualified voters in that election.

It is true each decision on election validity in matters of this kind must be determined by the facts disclosed, and whether or not such a departure is fatal is largely one of degree. So in the St. Ansgar case we said the first instance was inconsequential, but the other departure required a reversal. Drastic consequences of election invalidity are not favored after the election unless so required by the statute. Of course, there may be such redical omissions and failures to comply with the essential terms of a directory provision as will lead to the conclusive presumption that injury must have followed, but this is not such a case. Here there was a substantial compliance with the terms of directory provisions and a reasonable observance of the prescribed conditions. There is absolutely no evidence that anyone who was eligible to vote and desired to do so was prevented or even inconvenienced by having the polling place just across the line but in the same locality where all past school elections involving Union No. 5 had been held. No fraud or bad faith in so placing the polling place is alleged or shown, and no constitutional violation is claimed. As bearing on this matter also see Branderhorst v. County Board of Education of Marion County, Iowa, 99 N.W.2d 433, 435; Poor v. Incorporated Town of Duncombe, 231 Iowa 907, 913, 914, 2 N.W.2d 294; State ex rel. Greene Community School Dist. v. Rudd, Rockford & Marble Rock Com. School Dist., 250 Iowa 1269, 98 N.W.2d 820, 821.

II. Appellants next contend the trial court erred in holding the joint board action on the petition was valid, and satisfied due process of law when two petition-signers also actively participated in the consideration and ruling on the petition as members of the joint boards.

Admittedly, two resident property owners within the proposed district signed the petition for the formation of the Monticello Community School District, and later, as members of the joint board, participated in the proceedings to establish the boundaries of the new district held on February 24, 1959. However, eighteen of the twenty members of that board attended that meeting, and the vote to establish the district was unanimous. No actual prejudice is claimed as a result of the participation by Helgens and Clark, who were also members of the Jones County Board of Education. Had they not signed the petition, there would have been no cause to complain against them. The general rule applicable to such matters is set out in 78 C.J.S. Schools and School Districts § 27, p. 673: 'The fact that the officers or members of the board having power to create or alter school districts are interested parties, in that they are residents and taxpayers of the territory involved, does not affect the validity of their action.' This, or course, would not be true if there was a clear statutory prohibition. We find none in our present statutes. Section 275.17, Code of 1954, I.C.A., since repealed, referred to in State ex rel. Warrington v. Comm. Sch. Dist. of St. Ansgar, supra, was such a prohibition, but even there we found...