OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN H. TEXAS 

October 7, 1960 

/>c/. 

Honorable Donald E. Short 

County Attorney 

Wichita County 

Wichita Falls, Texas 

Dear Hr. Short: 

Opinion No. WV-948 

Re: Validity of using 

"pasters" in voting 

for write-in candldates. 

Your request for an opinion on the above-captioned 

question reads as follows: 

'I have had submitted to me a question of law 

which Is very important in view of the forthcoming 

election. Due to the recent death of Commissioner 

Haynes there will be several write-in candidates 

for'the office of County Commissioner, Precinct 4, 

Wichita County, Texas. 

"Several of these candidates have expressed 

the intention of having stickers with their names 

thereon printed so that the voter may paste the 

sticker on the ballot instead of writing In the 

candidate's name. 

"I am familiar with your opinion No. 0-6251 

cited In the annotations of Article 6.06, Election 

Code, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes, but I would 

like to know if your opinion is the same in view of 

Article 6.06 as amended by the 55th Legislature." 

Attorney General's Opinion o-6251 (1944) held that a 

person may not vote for a write-in candidate by pasting onto the 

ballot a sticker bearing the candidate's name instead of writing 

in the name of the candidate. This holding was based on Article 

2979, Revised Cfvll Statutes of 1925, which, after providing for 

certification of the name of a new nominee to the election board 

where a nominee had died or declined his nomination and the 

vacancy in the nomination had been filled, contained the following 

provision: 
Honorable Donald E. Short, Page 2 (WW-948) 

"* * * If such declination or death occurs 

after the ballots are printed, or due notice of 

the name of the new nominee is received after such 

printing, the official board charged with the duty 

of furnishing election supplies shall prepare as 

many pasters bearing the name of the new nominee as 

there are official ballots, which shall be pasted 

over the name of the former nominee on the official 

ballot before the presiding judge of the precinct 

lndorses his name on the ballot for Identification. 

No 

and if otherwise used the names pasted shall not be 

counted." (Emphasis supplied.) 

This provision, in identical language, now appears in Article 

6.04 of the Election Code. You have asked in effect whether the 

prohibition In this article was repealedlor modified by the 

amendment to Article 6.06 in 1957 (Ch. 338, Acts of the 55th Leg. 

1957, amending Articles 6.05, 6.06 and 13.09 of the Election Codej. 

The primary purpose of the 1957 amendatory act was to 

eliminate the dual method for marking the ballot (placing an X 

beside the name of the chosen candidate or scratching out the 

names of all opposing candidates) which had been introduced in 

the Election Code of 1951 and to restore the "scratch" method 

as the only authorized method, The act also made certain other 

changes In the provisions relating to the form of the ballot and 

the directions for marking it, these changes being mainly by way 

of ularifylng or more accurately stating existing provisions. It 

did not contain a repealing clause, 

Article 6.06, as amended, reads as follows: 

"Art. 6.06. How to mark ballot 

"In all elections, general, special, or primary, 

the voter shall mark out the names of al.1 candidates 

he does not wish to vote for. When party columns appear on a ballot, a voter desiring to vote a straight 

ticket may do so by running a line with a pencil or 

pen through all other tickets on the official ballot, 

making a distinct marked line through all tickets not 

intended to be voted; and when he desires to vote a 

mixed ticket, he shall do so by running a line through 

the names of such candidates as he desires to vote 

against. If the name of the person for whom the voter 

wishes to vote Is not printed on the ballot, the voter 

shall mark through the names which appear on the ballot 

In that race and shall write in the name of the candldate for whom he wishes to vote In a general election 
Honorable Donald E. Short, page 3 (WW-948) 

in the write-in column under the appropriate office 

title, and in a primary or special election In an 

appropriate space under the title of the office. 

"The failure of a voter to mark his ballot In 

strict conformity with these directions shall not 

invalidate the ballot, and a ballot shall be counted 

in all races in which the Intention of the voter Is 

clearly ascertainable." 

The last paragraph of Article 6.06 was added by the 

1957 amendment, and is the provision prompting your opinion request. This paragraph Is a legislative expression that the 

provisions of the preceding paragraph are directory and that a 

ballot shall be counted if the intention of the voter is clearly 

asaertalnable although not marked "in strict conformity" with the 

manner outlined in that article. Cf. Moore v. Plott,.206 S.W. 

958 (Tex.Civ.App. 1918); Longorla‘v. Longorla, 278 S 

(Tex.Clv.App. 1955); and Trout v. Loe, w 

.W.2d 885 

APP. 1959). 

.W.2d 191 (Tex.Civ. 

In our opinion, the la& paragraph of Article 6.06 

states a rule of construction to be applied to the provisions of 

Article 6.06, and It does not authorize the counting of any vote 

which has been cast in a manner expressly prohibited by some 

other statute. It does not repeal or modify the provision In 

Article 6.04 prohibiting the use of pasters and the counting 

of names on pasters where their use Is not expressly authorized 

in Article 6.04. The holding in Opinion O-6251 is still a 

correct statement of the law on the use of pasters in voting for 

write-in candidates. 

SUMMARY 

The rule of construction stated in the last 

paragraph of Article 6.06 of the Election Code, as 

amended in 1957, did not repeal or modify the prohibition against the use of pasters on official 

ballots and the counting of names on pasters where 

their use is not expressly authorized by Article 6.04 

of the Election Code. A voter Is not permitted to 

vote for a write-in candidate by pasting onto the 

ballot a sticker or paster bearlng the candidate's 

name, and votes cast for a write-in candidate in 

this manner cannot be counted. 

Yours very truly, 

WILL WILSON 

Attorney General of Texas 
- - 

Honorable Donald E. Short, Page 4 (WW-948) 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE 

W. V. Geppert, Chairman 

C. Dean Davis 

J. C. Davis, Jr. 

Riley Eugene Fletcher 

Elmer McVey 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY aENERAL 

BY: Leonard Passmore