E Aaso GENERAL 

OF XAS 

AUSTIN 1% TEXAS 

FVILL WILSON 

A’ITORNEY ‘3IENERAL 

Honorable Weldon Cabaniss 

County Attorney 

Aransas County 

Rockport, Texas 

Dear Mr. Cabaniss: 

day 2, 1960 

Opinion No. WW-832 

Re: Whether the Aransas 

County Tax Collector 

may issue 'voting" poll 

tax receipts to certain 

residents of Aransas 

County under the facts 

stated. 

Your request for an opinion is based on the following 

fact situation: 

The city of Aransas Pass is situated partly In 

Aransas County and partly In San Patricia County. Each 

of these counties levies the 25-cent county poll tax. 

During the poll tax payment period which ended on 

January 31, 1960, the Tax Collector of San Patricia 

County had a deputy stationed In Aransas Pass, within 

the portion lying in San Patricia County, for the purpose of receiving poll tax payments and issuing receipts therefor. Several residents of Aransas Pass, 

who were subject to payment of the 1959 poll tax and 

who at all times pertinent to this opinion have lived 

within the portion of the city lying in Aransas County, 

paid their poll tax in the sum of $1.75 to this deputy, 

before February 1, and were issued San Patricia County 

poll tax receipts. The deputy has made the following 

statement in connection with the issuance of these 

receipts: 

"I was under the impression that I could issue 

poll tax receipts to all residents of the City of 

Aransas Pass otherwise qualified and without regard as 

to whether residents of Aransas or San Patrlcio County. 

I Issued to persons who told me they lived in AFansas 

County, as I thought I was authorized to do so. 

The acceptance of payments from residents of Aransas 

County did not come to the attention of the San Patricia 

Collector until after February 1. He Is ready to deliver 

over to the Aransas County Collector the money received 
Honorable Weldon Cabaniss, page 2 (WW-832) 

from the Aransas County residents, but the Aransas County 

Collector inquires whether there Is any manner by which 

this can be legally accomplished, and the individuals 

thereby franchised in Aransas County. 

QUESTION: Under these facts, are these individuals 

entitled to vote in Aransas County in the primary, general 

and other elections, for the year 1960; and if not, is 

there any means of transferring the poll fees from San 

Patricia County to Aransas County to entitle these persons to vote in Aransas County? 

Article VI, Section 2 of the Constitution provides: 

'* * * any voter who is subject to pay a poll 

tax under the laws of the State of Texas shall have 

paid said tax before offering to vote at any election 

in this State and hold a receipt showing that said 

poll tax was paid'before the {irat day of February 

next preceding such election. 

.n the county in which the taxpayer 

levy. Payment of the tax in some 

for the state tax of $1.50; but the county 

,nd payment in some 

The poll tax is payable in the county in which the taxpayer 

resided on January 1 preceding its levy. Payment of the tax in some 

other county will suffice for the state tax of $1.50; but the county 

tax must be paid in the county where it is due, and payment in some 

other county will not entitle4 the taxpayer to vote. Sava e v. 

um;h;l;s,,,;;8 go;. (N:9 c~~8A~~x;"9:~j~~c~~~~; vy;Ew;ri17 

(Tex,Ci;,App: 1925), In orderOto qualify the taxpayer ?or voting, the 

money in payment of the tax and the information necessary for filling 

out the receipt must have been delivered to the tax collector or an 

authorized deputy 

(Tex.Civ.App. 1913pf'~~,~"is~~"~"~~r~~s D~?S~W.~$% ~~~x?C!~.:~~. 

1948, error ref. n.r.e.). The tax colleitor may issue a ' voting" poll 

tax receipt after January 31 if the taxpayer has done all that is 

required of him in paying the tax before that date; but the receipt 

must be stamped "Holder not entitled to vote" if the tax is not paid 

to him until after January 31" Parker v. Busby, 170 S.W. 1042 (Tex. 

Civ.App. 1914); Art. 5,12, Election Code. 

The Aransas County Tax Collector had not authorized this 

deputy to act for him, and the deputy was neither a de ure nor a 

de facto officer for Aransas County. Payment to the sn h- atricio 

ZpKthough made In the mistaken belief by the taxpayer and by the 

deputy that the deputy could accept payment for Aransas County residents, did not fulfill the requirement for payment in the county where 

the tax was due. The faet that all parties acted in good faith, or 

that the deputy gave erroneous advice to the taxpayers under a misapprehension of the law, does not change the result. Davis v. Riley, 

supra. 
Under the foregoing authorities, we are constrained to hold 

that these individuals did not make timely payment of the poll tax 

that was due in Aransas County, and there is no way by which they may 

lawfully vote on the receipts issued by the San Patricia deputy or 

by which the Tax Collector of Aransas County may now issue Aransas 

County receipts entitling them to vote In the 1960 elections. 

Honorable Weldon Cabaniss, page 3 (WW-832) 

SUMMARY 

Where residents of a county which levies a county 

poll tax were subject to payment of the poll tax and 

paid their poll tax for the year 1959 to the deputy of 

another county in the mistaken belief that the deputy 

was authorized to accept the payments, and the money 

was not delivered to the tax collector of the county 

of their residence prior to February 1, 1960, there 

had not been a timely payment of the tax and there is 

no way by which these persons may lawfully vote in the 

1960 elections. 

Yours very truly, 

WILL WILSON 

Attorney General of Texas 

Mary K. Wall 

Assistant 

MKW:bh 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

Morgan Nesbitt, Chairman 

Houghton Brownlee, Jr. 

J.C. Davis, Jr. 

Riley Eugene Fletcher 

J. Arthur Sandlin 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY GENERAL 

BY: 

Leonard Passmore