Williams v. Potter

• Decision Date: 14 November 1885
• Citation: 114 Ill. 628,3 N.E. 729
• Parties: WILLIAMS and others v. POTTER and others.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

114 Ill. 628

3 N.E. 729

WILLIAMS and others

v.POTTER and others.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Filed November 14, 1885.

Appeal from county court, Will county.

Olin & Phelps and Haley & O'Donnell, for the appellants.

C. W. Brown and A. F. Mather, for appellees.

MULKEY, J.

At the spring election held in the township of Du Page, Will county, on the seventh day of April, 1885, the appellants, Stephen J. Williams, Christian Flugga, and John Burkhardt, were, respectively, candidates for the offices of supervisor, collector, and justice of the peace of said township, and the appellees, George W. Potter, Seymour Buel, and Albert M. Armstrong were, respectively, opposing candidates for said offices. Upon a canvass of the votes, the appellants were all declared elected. The appellees thereupon filed their several petitions in the county court to contest the election of appellants. As the same questions were involved in all the cases, by consent of parties they were consolidated and tried as one case. Upon the hearing the county court found such irregularities had occurred in calling and conducting the election as to vitiate it altogether, and entered a decree accordingly. This appeal is prosecuted by the defendants in the petition to reverse that order. The rights of the successful candidates, as declared by the canvassing board, are assailed on a number of grounds, two of which only are necessary to be considered, as they fully cover the frictional points in the case. It is claimed- First, that the votes cast at district No. 9, one of the polling places at said election, are void, for the reason there was no authority for holding an election at that place; secondly, that the officers conducting the election were guilty of such improper conduct and irregularities, particularly after the closing the polls, as to render the election void. It appears that prior to the fifteenth of September, 1884, the only polling place in the town was at the Sprague school-house in school-district No. 4. On that day the following petition, signed by 100 voters, was presented to the board of supervisors:

‘The undersigned, citizens, property owners, and tax-payers of the town of Du Page, in said Will county, show unto your honorable body that there is but one election precinct in said town; that a large number of the voters of said township reside and work south and south-east of the Des Plaines river, as laborers in the stone quarries in that location, who are not able to bear the expense of transportation across the river to the present precinct; that we believe that the interests of the voting population of said town require that there should be two election precincts in said town; and that a new election precinct should be established for all voters of said township south and east of the Des Plaines river. We therefore pray your honorable body to establish a new and second election precinct for said town, to embrace all the voters south and east of the Des Plaines river; elections to be held at the school-house of school-district number nine.’

The petition was referred to a committee, who, on the 17th, made a report recommending that the prayer thereof be granted. It was thereupon moved by one of the members of the board that the report be adopted, which motion, upon a vote being taken, was declared passed. No further action was ever taken by the board in respect to the petition. But the record shows that the town clerk, on the twenty-sixth day of March, 1885, published the following notice:

‘ANNUAL TOWN MEETING.

‘Notice is hereby given to the citizens, legal voters of the town of Du Page, residing south and east of the Des Plaines river, in the county of Will and state of Illinois, that the annual town meeting of said town will be held at the schoolhouse, Dist. No. 9, in said town, on Tuesday, April 7, 1885, being the first Tuesday in said month, for the purposes following, viz.’

Then follows a specification of the objects of the meeting, and the signature of the clerk in his official character.

If the votes cast at the polling place specified in this notice are to be counted, the appellants received a majority of the legal votes cast, appellees did not.

Paragraph 51, c. 139, Starr & C.'s Annot. St., fixes the time of holding the annual town meetings for the election of officers, etc., on the second Tuesday of April in each year at the place appointed for such meetings. Paragraph 52 provides for notice of town meetings, and specifies the kind of notice, the manner of giving it, and the person or persons by whom it is to be given. Paragraph 53 provides that for the purposes of town meetings each town shall constitute an election precinct. Paragraph 54 declares that ‘the place of holding elections shall be some convenient place in the town, to be fixed by the electors at their annual town meetings.’ Paragraph 55 provides for the manner of changing the place of holding town meetings, which can only be done on petition, and by a majority vote at a town meeting, after due notice of such contemplated change and of the time of voting thereon. Paragraph 56 makes the supervisor, assessor, and collector ex officio judges of elections in their town, except as otherwise provided by law. Paragraph 61 provides for the election of town officers at the annual town meeting. Paragraph 62 points out the time and manner of organizing such meetings. Paragraph 67 provides as follows:

‘The town shall supply a suitable ballot-box or boxes, to be kept and used in like manner as ballot-boxes in other elections. In * * * any organized town, where the number of votes at the last...