Williamson v. Kempf

• Decision Date: 28 November 1978
• Docket Number: No. 8635,8635
• Citation: Williamson v. Kempf, 574 S.W.2d 845 (Tex. Ct. App. 1978)
• Parties: George WILLIAMSON et al., Appellants, v. Glenn KEMPF et al., Appellees.
• Court: Texas Civil Court of Appeals

Page 845

574 S.W.2d 845

George WILLIAMSON et al., Appellants, v.Glenn KEMPF et al., Appellees.

No. 8635.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, Texarkana.

Nov. 28, 1978.

Rehearing Denied Dec. 28, 1978.

Doren R. Eskew, Eskew, Brady Womack & Muir, Austin, Larry Watts, Houston, for appellants.

Charles E. Thompson, Lovelace & Thompson, Inc., Atlanta, for appellees.

RAY, Justice.

This is a suit for mandamus.Appellees(petitioners), Glen Kempf, Melvin Wall and Paul Fortune, three candidates for election to the Karnack Independent School District Board of Trustees, brought suit to require the election judge, Willie Faye Jones, and the Karnack Independent School District Board of Trustees, appellants(respondents), to complete the election process.The trial court denied appellants a jury trial and proceeded to find that the required acts of the election judge and Board of Trustees were ministerial duties required by the laws of the State of Texas and not a matter of discretion.The trial court entered its judgment directing that a writ of mandamus issue commanding the election judge, Appellant Jones, to forthwith proceed to make out the returns and certify them to the president of the Board of Trustees for the use of the Board in canvassing the returns.The Board of Trustees was directed to proceed to canvass the returns, declare the results of the election and issue certificates of election to the winners.

Appellants have perfected their appeal and submit three points of error for our consideration.

Appellants complain that the trial court erred in depriving them of a jury trial; that the court erred in exercising judicial control over incomplete election proceedings; and, that the trial court erred in compelling the completion of the political process after the election judge stated she had discovered fraud in the voting and that it would therefore be impossible for her to correctly certify the election returns.

Appellants' three points of error will be overruled and the judgment of the trial court will be affirmed.

The undisputed facts are that the Board of Trustees called a regular election to elect three members to their Board.The election was held on April 1, 1978, with Willie Faye Jones serving as the election judge.The voting was completed, the votes counted and tallied, but the election judge refused to certify the results of the election or to prepare the returns and forward them to the Board of Trustees for canvassing.The Board of Trustees held a special meeting on April 5, 1978, and voted to call a new election for April 29, 1978.The Board did not have before it the election returns for canvassing nor was April 5th the date scheduled for canvassing the returns.The regular meeting was to have been on April 6, 1978, at which time the canvassing of the returns was to be performed.There is no indication in the record that a meeting was ever held on April 6th.We think it is clear and undisputed that the election judge would not certify the results of the election, a ministerial act, and that the trial court was correct in ordering a writ of mandamus to issue compelling her to make out the returns and certify them to the school board for canvassing.The trial court did not commit any error in denying Appellant Jones a jury trial because there were no fact issues to be resolved by a jury.Appellant Jones had failed to perform a ministerial duty required by law.It is also clear that the Board of Trustees had no intention of canvassing the votes since it had already called a new election at the meeting held one day prior to the date scheduled for canvassing the returns.The evidence establishes that appellants had not performed the ministerial duties required of them.SeeCrouch v. Stanley, 390 S.W.2d 795, 798(Tex.Civ.App.Eastland1965, writ ref'd n. r. e.), cert. denied, 383 U.S. 945, 86 S.Ct. 1201, 16 L.Ed.2d 208(1966).Appellants' first point of error is overruled.

Appellants' second point of error concerning the alleged exercise of control over the election proceedings or the election process by the trial court is overruled.Certain ministerial acts are required of the election judge under Articles 8.29, 8.29a, and 8.29b of the Texas Election Code and certain ministerial acts are required of the Board of Trustees under the provisions of the Texas Educ.Code Ann. Sec. 23.10.It is undisputed that the appellants did not comply with the statutory requirements relative to their ministerial duties.The trial court has the authority and power to require by writ of mandamus that the ministerial duties be performed by the election judge and the canvassing board to force the completion of the election process in accordance with the procedural statutes regulating the manner in which elections shall be conducted.An election is essentially the exercise of political power and during its progress it is not subject to judicial control other than to require the election and canvassing officials to perform their ministerial duties that have been prescribed by statute.In Leslie v. Griffin, 25 S.W.2d 820, 821(Tex.Com.App.1930, opinion...