Woodruff v. State

• Decision Date: 09 June 1902
• Parties: WOODRUFF v. STATE.
• Court: New Jersey Supreme Court

52 A. 294

68 N.J.L. 89

WOODRUFF

v. STATE.

Supreme Court of New Jersey.

June 9, 1902.

(Syllabus by the Court)

Joseph R. Woodruff was indicted for fraud as judge of election. From an order refusing to quash the indictment he brings error. Indictment quashed.

Argued February term, 1902, before FORT, HENDRICKSON, and PITNEY, JJ.

Elvin W. Crane and James R. Nugent for prosecutor.

Chandler W. Riker and Louis Hood, for defendant.

FORT, J. The prosecutor in this case was indicted by the oyer and terminer of Essex county for fraud in the conduct of a primary election held in the Fourth district of the Eleventh ward of the city of Newark on September 27, 1901, for the selection of a delegate to attend the state convention of the Democratic party to nominate a candidate of that party to be voted for for the office of governor. The indictment is founded upon the statute, and charges, by several counts and in various ways, a violation by said prosecutor, as a judge of said primary election, of section 217 of the act entitled "An act to regulate elections (Revision 1898) approved April 4, 1898" (P. L. 1898, p. 237), in that the said prosecutor (to quote one of the counts) "did then and there commit willful fraud in the discharge of his duties as aforesaid, by then and there falsely counting the ballots cast at the primary meeting and election aforesaid, in that he, the said J. R. W., unlawfully and fraudulently did falsely count divers ballots, the number of which is to the grand jurors unknown, having infolded other ballots, he, the said J. R. W., then and there well knowing that the ballots aforesaid were not then and there lawful ballots, contrary to the form of the statute in such case made and provided," etc. It is clear that the crime here charged is well charged under the statute, and, if the statute applies in the case of the primary election at which the prosecutor was judge, then the indictment is good. It is conceded that if the primary had been for the purpose of nominating a candidate for a state, city, or county office, the offense charged would be covered by the statute; but it is claimed that this was not a primary for such a nomination, but one for the mere selection of a delegate to a convention, which convention was to nominate some person for the office of governor.

There are four sections of the election law of 1898 applicable to primary elections, viz., 214, 215, 216, and 217. Laws 1898, pp. 330, 331. Section 214 simply defines the qualifications of persons entitled to vote at primary elections. Section 215 makes it illegal (1) to vote, or offer to vote, or counsel another to vote, knowing that you yourself or such other person are not entitled to vote; or (2) if, having voted at the primary to nominate candidates, or elect delegates to nominate candidates, you shall vote at a primary of some other party to nominate candidates, or to elect delegates to nominate candidates, to be voted for at the same election. The acts made offenses under section 215 are made misdemeanors. There is nothing charged in the indictment before us which is an offense under section 215. If any authority can be found in the statute to sustain the indictment, it must be in sections 216 and 217. These sections are as follows:

"Sec. 216. It is hereby made the duty of the judges, inspectors, and clerks or other officers of the primary elections, meetings or caucuses held for the purpose of nominating candidates for state, city, and county officers, within the cities of this state, before entering upon the discharge of their duties, severally to take and subscribe to an oath or affirmation in the presence of each other in form as follows, namely: [Here follows the form of the oath, and the method of administering it]

"Sec. 217. If any judge, inspector, clerk or other officer of a primary election as aforesaid, shall presume to act in such a capacity before taking and subscribing to the oath or affirmation required by this act, or shall willfully disregard or violate the provisions of any rule duly made by the party of which he is a member, and for whom he is acting, for the government of the primary elections of the party, or if any judge or inspector of any primary election, as aforesaid, shall knowingly reject the vote of any person entitled to vote under the rules of the said party, or shall knowingly receive the vote of any person or "persons not qualified as aforesaid, or if any judge, inspector, clerk or any other officer of a primary election, as aforesaid,'shall be guilty of any wilful fraud in the discharge of his duties, by destroying or defacing ballots, adding ballots, to the poll by false counting, by making false returns, or by any act or thing whatsoever, the person or persons so offending shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both, at the discretion of the court."

Unless interpolated as a matter of construction arising out of our belief that it was legislative intent so to do, a primary election to select a delegate to attend a political convention to nominate a candidate for an office is not within these sections. Section 215 seems to...