Title: Reed v. City of Montgomery

State: alabama

Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court

Document:

376 So. 2d 708 (1979)
Joe L. REED
v.
CITY OF MONTGOMERY, a Municipal Corporation, et al.
78-636.

Supreme Court of Alabama.
November 9, 1979.
*709 Solomon S. Seay, Jr. of Gray, Seay & Langford, Montgomery, for appellant.
Drayton N. Hamilton and J. Bernard Brannan, Jr., Montgomery, for City of Montgomery, appellee.
Robert C. Black, Montgomery, for Rebecca Glasscock Tomlin, appellee.
PER CURIAM.
On January 23, 1979, a special election was held pursuant to Act No. 386, Acts of Alabama, Regular Session 1978, Vol. 1, p. 358, to determine whether three unincorporated areas, designated by the Act as "West Area," "East Area," and "South Area," were to be annexed by the City of Montgomery. The Act, known as the Greater Montgomery Act, authorized the preparation of four separate poll lists, one to include all the qualified electors residing in the City and County of Montgomery and not included in the affected areas, and one each for the three affected areas. The Act also provided that the Judge of Probate certify the results of the election separately as to each group of electors in the four areas.
The results of the "City-County Area," "West Area," and "East Area" votes were certified on January 25, 1979, showing that the electorate of each of these areas had voted in favor of annexation. Certification of the "South Area" results was held up because, after delivery to the Judge of Probate of the original statement of canvass showing a narrow vote in favor of annexation, the Chief Inspector of Precinct 38 informed the Judge of Probate that a mistake had been made in tabulating the final vote.
Thereupon, Judge Walker Hobbie filed an action for declaratory judgment in Circuit Court to determine whether he, as Judge of Probate of Montgomery County, was authorized under the Act to certify results different from those indicated on the original statement of canvass delivered to him. This cause was dismissed by order of the Circuit Court on February 7, 1979, on the basis that the requested judgment was in the nature of an advisory opinion which the Court was without authority to render.
Thereafter, the original statement of canvass was changed and the results of the "South Area" election were certified by the Judge of Probate to show 192 votes in favor of annexation and 192 votes against. On February 14, 1979, the City of Montgomery filed a Petition for Writ of Certiorari, Mandamus, and other Extraordinary Writs in the Circuit Court, seeking an order directing the Judge of Probate to certify the "South Area" election results according to *710 the results of the original statement of canvass. The Circuit Court, subsequently, granted several motions to intervene on behalf of both the Plaintiff and Defendants in this case, including that of Intervenor/Appellant, Joe L. Reed, on behalf of the Defendants. On May 23, 1979, a writ of mandamus was issued to Defendant Hobbie requiring him to certify, on or before 12 o'clock noon on Friday, May 25, 1979, the "South Area" vote in accordance with the tabulation contained in the original statement of canvass.
Defendant/Intervenor, Joe L. Reed, appeals this order on the basis that the City of Montgomery lacked standing to contest the election results in the Court below. It is argued that, although Act No. 386 is silent on the question of contesting elections, "it is clear that with the exceptions noted in the Act, the legislature intended that those laws applicable to elections, etc., of members of the legislature apply." With respect to the contest of elections of persons to the House of Representatives, § 17-15-1, Ala.Code 1975, provides in part that:
According to Intervenor/Appellant, the City of Montgomery is neither a person nor a qualified elector and, therefore, had no standing to contest the election results in the Court below.
We begin by noting that the City did not bring suit to contest the results of an election; rather, it sought an order of mandamus to compel a public official to do that which, as the City saw it, the law required the official to do. Moreover, assuming even that § 17-15-1, Ala.Code 1975, were otherwise apropos, we note that the Court below granted Rebecca Glasscock Tomlin's motion to intervene on behalf of the Plaintiff. Ms. Tomlin's status as a qualified elector is not disputed.
With respect to the substantive issue raised by this suit, we quote from the well researched and ably-reasoned order in the Court below:
"In Ex parte Shephard [Shepherd], 172 Ala. 205, 213 [55 So. 627] (Ala.1911), the Petitioner asserted that the inspectors changed the returns to make them speak the truth, and the Court observed:
Intervenor/Appellant's argument that it is the duty of the certifying official to certify correct results is not without merit; however, we agree with the Court below that the integrity of the electoral process is better served by limiting the certifying official to the computation of final results and leaving questions of irregularity, error, or fraud to the procedures already set forth in law for contesting elections.
AFFIRMED.
All the Justices concur.