NE GENERAL EXAS

Hon. Leonard King County Attorney Childreas-Coun*y Childretie, Texar Opinion NO.V-1448 Re: Authority o? the colrissioners I oourt to order an election 

### to determlne if anadvalorem tax 

### should be levied 

### for farm-to-market and lateral roads, to be held~ in conjunction with the party primary election in July, using the came .eleotion judges and Dear Sir: clerks.

Reference le madeto your request for the opinion of thlr offloe oonaernlng the authority of the 06rmnilrslonere1 court to order an election to determine if angd vhlorem tax should be levied for farm-to-mark+t and lateral roads, to be held in q,onjunctlon with the party p~lmary election in July, wing the sameelection 

### &d&errand clerka.

cle 

### 7048a,The pertineqt 

### part oi;Seotion 7 of 

### ArtiV.C.S., relative to calling and holding an eleotlon for 

### the purpore of levying a tax for farwto-market end lateral road purposes 

### provides:

“Be$ore any oounty shall levy, amsea and oolleot the 

### tax provided 

### for herein the qubrtion rhall by the Oommlrrioners Oourt 

### of the oounty be rubmltted to a vote of the quallfled property taxpaying voters of 

### sugh county at an eleotlon oalled 

### for that 

### puppore, either on raid Oommlssloners Court’s ownmotlo ten pecoent erty taxph (lO$

r P, or upon petition 

### of

of the qualified propngvo or8 of rald oounty as shownby t ereturm of the last general election. 

### Said election ohall be ordered at a regular resrlon of said Uomml~~lonera 7Tourtandsuch oraer #hall speolfy the-

Hon. Leonard King, page 2 (V-1448)

thirty cents. Dollars ($ .., rate of tax to be voted on, not to exceed

30#) on each OneHundred ;lOO valuation of taxable prop-

. erty within such-~county, shall state-the date whensaid election shall be held and shall appoint officers to hold said election In accordance.with the election laws of thlti State.” (Emphasis added throughout, 1

held look Since this Is a special election and Is In accordance with the eleo$lon lows, wemust to the Texas Election,Code (H.B. 6, Acts 52nd Leg.,:‘R3. 19513 ch: 492, 0.. 1097)I.t@,aetern@ne which provlsioiiia of the election laws are appllcable to this type of elect.lon.

in part,:.,:.Section 15 of the Election Code provides

. . “TheCommissioners Court at the Februkry term shall appoint from amongthe citizens of each voting precinct In which there are less than one hundred (100) voters whohave paid their poll tax or recel$ed their certificates of exemption, two (2j reputable quals-’ fled voters as judges of the’electlon, selected from different @olltical parties, if praotloaDle, yho shall continue to act until

are appointed.

. . . One. shall, in all oases belong e party that at the 1aBt general eleotlon’oast the largest vote for dovernor throughout the State shall be designated as the presiding jud e at electlone; he shall appoint two (27 competent andreput-

“For every reolnct

net in whloh,there ” a&qane hundred P100)~citlzens or morewho citizens have @aid their poll tax or received their certificates of exemption, ,the Commlssioners Court shall appoint four (4) judges of eledtlon, whoshall be chosen whenpracticable from opposing political parties, Section 16 of the Election Cod&provides in part:. -

Hon. Leonard King, page 3 (~-1448)

one of whomshall be designated as presiding judge.

. . . The presiding judge shall appoint four (4) competent andreputable clerks, andas manyother clerks as may be authorized by the Commissioners Court, whohave paid their poll tax, or have secured their exemptions,.and of different olltlcal parties, whenpracticable;

. . . rovided, that in a11 elections herd under the provisions of this title, otherthan general elections’, local option elections andprimary elections, the officer@ t0 be ppi-t-dby a one e hold said elections shall be a presiding judge, andassistant judge andtwo (21 1 k whose compensation shall &*i ($5) per day, andTWO Dol?zrziTg2) extra to the presiding judge for makim return of the election.” Section 22 of the Election Code provides:

“The pay of judges andclerks of general and special elections shall be determined by the Commissioners Court of the county where such services are rendered, and In primary elections by the County Executive Committee of the party conducting such primary election but sameshall not exceed TenDollars ($10~ a day for each judge or clerk, nor exceed OneDollar ($1) per hour each for any
‘~tirne in excess of a day’s work as herein defined. Thejudge whodelivers the returns of election Immediately after the votes have been counted shall be paid TwoDollars ($2) for that service; provided, also, he shall makereturns of all election supplies not used whenhe makesreturns of the election. Ten (10) working hours shall be considered a daywithin the meaning of this Article. The compensation of judges and clerks of general andspecial elections shall be paid,by the County Treasurer of the county where such services darerandered upon order of the Commissioners.” Section 77 of the Election Code provides: ..

“All expenses incurred in furnishingHon. Leonard King, page 4 (v-1448)

the supplies, ballots, andbooths In any general or special election shall be p&d for by the county, except costs in munlcii: pal andschool elections. All accounts for

supplies furnished and services’rendered shall first be approved by the Cbmmleeioners Court.before they are paid by the oounty.” Thepertinent provisions of the I$leotlon .Code rkrtl~ve to‘the ‘“primary electlon”l, rre’aq follows:

Sec. 179 - “The teem ‘prlmarjr election, I: as used in this chapter, meansan election held by the membersof an organized political party for the purpose of nominating the Oandldates op such party to be voted for at a general or speo~lal election, or to nominate L the county executive officers of a party.”

‘Sec. 186 - “Prior to the assessment of the candidates, on the third Mondayin June preceding each general primary, the oounty c,ommlttee shall also aarefully es- \ timate the cost of printing.the offlclal ballots, ‘renting polling plaoee where same may.be found necessary, providing and dis- : tributlng all neoeesary poll booka, blank stationery and voting booths required, compensation df election officers and

‘alerks andmessengers, to report the result ih,auch precinbt to the county chairman, as provided for herein, andall other necessary expennes of holding such primarlee in suah’ counties and.shall apportion ‘such cost among the Various candidates for nomination forHon. Leonard King, page 5 (v-1448)

district, county and precinct offices only as herein defined, and offices to be filled by the voters of such district, county or precinct only, In such manneras in their judgment Is just and equitable;

. . ." Ananalysis of the above statutes relative to "farm-to-market elections" and "primary eleatlons" reveals: 1. It Is mandatory that the commissioners' court appoint only four persons to hold the "farm-tomarket election" in each election precinct, whereas the county chairman of the political party, with the assistance of a majority of the county executive committee, appoints a presiding judge of each election precinct, andthe presiding judge appoints anassociate judge andclerk to assist him. However, an indeterminate n~umber of persons maybe appointed to hold each precinct primary election if It is so determined by the county executive committee.

2. Thefour persons appointed to hold the "farm-to-market election" shall be chosen where practicable from opposing polltltial parties; contrarily, however, the three persons or moreappointed to hold the "primary election" are chosen from the samepolitical party. :

3. Thejudges andclerks of each election precinct in the "farm-to-market election" are paid. by the county, but the judges andclerks of the "Primary election" are paid by the county chairman out of the funds derived through the assessments paid by the candidates of the party holding the, primary election.

4. All other expenses of holding the 'farmto-market election" are peld for by the county, whereas similar expenses for holding the "primary election" are paid by the county chairman out of the funds collected from the candidates.

This office passed on a similar question In Attorney General's Opinion O-2539 (l#O), from which wequote as follows:

‘I

. . . However, weare of the opinion that Article 666-33, supra, is an expressHon. Leonard King, page 6, (v-1448)

provision of the statutes requiring the commlssioners~ court to appoint offloers to hold local option electiona~,ae nowrequired to hold general elections, and In appointing 'or attempting to appoint the election officials designated to hold prlmaryelections would not be In compliance with the express provisions of the above mentioned statute. "In view of the foregoing> you are respectfully advised that It 1s the oplnion of~thls department that the commlssloners' court does not have the legal authority to appoint as judges of a local option election the samejudge8 as those appointed by the County Democratic Committee to hold the Democratic Primary Election. In the event the sameelection judges, etc. holding the primary election were to hold the local option election at the sametime, there would be no saving of 'exp$nses, for the county mustpay the expens- 'es of holding the local option election, and candidates, through the county chairman, pay 

### the expenses of the primary election andthe county could 

### not legally avoid the payment of the expenses of holding the local option election by attempting to have the election officials of the primary election to hold the local option election along with the primary election, the expense of

. . such being paid 

### bKthe candidates In the sprimary eleotlon. In view of the foregolng, It Is ok ,oplnIon that the oommle~l~nere-'oourt does ,not have”&u-

. thorl h%to or@r 

### tiat’tha eUet9on juBgee and olerks"=' 

### oonduo lng 8 pa&y prlmmry:eleotlon al00 

### cWMUCtat the name

### time aceleotion to determine If a11advalorem 

### tax should be 

### levied for farm-to-mu4cet and lateral 

### roada.Ron. Le.onardKing, page,7 (v-1448)

Acommi~%!loness', court do&.not have authority to &der tha.t the eleatloh'judges andclerks conducting a prlmary~~,~lection also conduct at the sametime'8ti!electlon to determilie if anadvalorem ix& should be 'levied for farm-to-market and lateral, roads. Yours veby thly, APPROVED: MaryK, Wall Reviewing Assistant PFU~B DANXEL Attorney Qeheral

Charles D. Mathews First Ahlstant JCD:mh :' ,e.$uh),p11

. C. Davis, Jr. Assistant