Ronofable H. Fat Edwarda 

Civil M&riot Attorney 

Reoords tillding 

iallas County 

Danas, Texas 

At tention : Mr. Warren S. Cook 

Eoar nir: Opinion Ro. o-5&1 

Rer Authority of.the Tax Asaoseor and Colleotor to 

issue's voter a ,duplicate,% 

poll tax receipt, oraoertifioata that a person' 

has previously paid his 

poll tax; and related subjeots. 

We acknowledge the receipt of your letter of February 28, 1944, 

in which you ask the department*s opinion on the following questions: 

"(1) Is the Tax ~Assessor and Collector authorized to 

issue to a voter a duplicate poll tax reoeipt? 

:,i2) 1s the Tax Assessor and Collector authorized to 

issue certificates oartimng that a person has previously 

paid his poll tax on a certain date? 

"(3) May an eleator who has paid, his poll tax and has 

had a poi.1 tax receipt issued to him vote in person at the 

regular pol.18 or by absentee ballot by prassnting to the 

proper person a dupliaate poll tax receipt or a certificate 

Lssuad by the Tax ~Aseessar and Collector certifying that 

said alactor has paid his ~01~1 tax on a certain data? 

"(4.; May an elector vtho is exempted from paying his 

pa:1 tax and haa been issuad an exemption oertifi.cafe 

vote at an election held, by absentse ballot or in peF8On 

by presentdng to tha proper person ,a certificate issued 

by the Tax AW~SSOF and Colleotor oertiryjng that said 

person is exempted from paying a poll tax and an exemption 

aertifioate has previously been issued to him?" 

~exaa Constitution, Article VI, Seotion 2, provides: 
Honorable H. LJat Edwards, page 2 O-5881 

I, 

. . . .that any voter who is subject to pay a poll tax 

under the laws of the Stats of Texas shall have paid said 

tax before offering to vote at any election in this State 

and hold a reoeipt showing that said poll tax was paid before 

the first day of February next preoeding suoh election. Or 

if said voter shall have lost or misplaced said tax receipt, 

he or she, as the ease may be, shall be entitled to vote 

upon making affidavit before any officer authorized to administer oaths that such tax receipt has been lost. Such affidavit 

shall be made in writing and left with the judge of the 

election. . . . . And this provision of the Constitution shall 

be self-enaoting without the necessity of further legislation. 

n . . . . 

Article VI, Section 4, of the Lonstitution empowers,the Lagislature to make "regulations a8 may be necessary to detect and punish 

fraud and prese~a the purity of the ballot box and the Legislature 

may provide by law for the registration of all voters in all cities 

containing a population of ten thousand inhabitants or more." 

In 1904 our Supreme Court in Stinson v. Gardner, 97 Tex. 292, 

78,s. W. 492, construing the words "hold a receipt" said: 

'"It might be inferred from the latter part of the quotation 

that it was intended the voter should have his poll-tax receipt 

at the place where ha voted, but there is no provision in 

the Constitution whioh requires that the reoeipt shall be 

exhibited at the time of voting. It only requires the voter 

shall hold his receipt that is, that he shall have procured and 

have possession of the reoeipt, and, if it has been lost, 

then, in order to vote, he must make the affidavit which the 

law requires. . .." 

The following year (1905) the Terrall-Election Law was passed, 

This law was a general overhauling of our election laws. Seation 66 

of the Terre11 Gleotion Laps (Acts 1st C. S. 1905, p. 533 is Article 

3004, R. S., 1925. Stinson v. Gardner, supra, was decided under a 

prior form of the statute requiring only that the voter have a reoeipt, 

Article 3004, whioh superseded the cited quotation from that case, is 

aa follows: 

"No citizen shall be permitted to vote, unless ha first 

presents to the judge of eleotion his poll. tax receipt or 

certificate of exemption issued to him before the first day 

of February of the year in which he offers to vote. except 

as otherwise permitted in this title, unless the sine hRS 

beer, lost or mislaid, or left at home, in whioh event he 

shall make an affidavit of that fact, which shall be left 

with the judges and sent by them with the returns Of the 

eleotj.onr provided, that, if since he obtained his receipt 
Honorable H. Pat Edwards, page 3 O-5881 

or certificate he removes from the precinot or county of 

his residence, he may vote on oomplying with other provisions of this title." 

Other eleation statutes, material to the questions under disoussion, are: 

Article 2966, aa amended 1941, provides: 

3s .*. any voter . ..subjeot to pay a poll tax under the 

laws of this State, shall . . . before offering to vote at 

any election in this State . . . (hold) . . . a reoeipt showing that said poll tax was paid before the first day of 

February next preaeding such elections . . . If said voter 

is exempt from paying s poll tax and resides in a aity of 

10,000 inhabitants or more, he or she must prooure a certifioate showing his or her exemptions. . . . If such 

voter shall have lost or misplaced said tax receipt, ha 

or she shall be entitled to vote upon making and leaving 

with the judge of the elsotion an affidavit that suoh 

tax was paid by him or her, or by his wife or by her 

husband before said first day of February next preceding 

suah election at which he or she offers to vote, and 

that said receipt has been lost or misplaced. ..*a The 

provisions of this Artiols as to oasting ballots shall 

apply to all elections including general, special, and 

primary elsations; provided that a city poll tax shall 

not be required to vote in any election i?~ this State 

except in oity eleations.' 

Article 2956, in part, is as follows: 

"Subdivision 1. Any qualified sleotor of this State 

who is absent from the county of his residsnoe, or beaauss of sickness or physiaal disability can not appear‘ 

at the poll place in the eleotion preoinat of his residence, on the day of holding any general, special. or 

primary election, may, nevertheless, OWQ~ his vote to 

be cast at suoh ale&ion in the precinct of his residenoa 

by compliance with one or other of the methods hereinafter provided for absentee voting. 

"Subdivision 2. Such elector shall make applioation 

for an official ballot to the oounty olerk in Writing 

signed by the elector. or by a witness at the direction 

of said elector in case of latter's inability to make 

suoh written application because of physical disability. 

Suoh application shall he accompanied by the poll tax 

receipt or exemption oertifiaate of the elector, or, in 

1is.z thereof, his affidavit in writing that same has beon 

lo& or mislaid. l s. 
Honorable H. Pat Edwards, page 4 O-5881 

"Subdivision 8. The oounty clerk shall post at a conspicuous plaoe in his offioe, for public inspection, a 

complete list of those to whom ballots have been delivered or sent out under this Article, stating thereon the 

elector's name, age, ocoupation, precinct of residence 

and poll tax number or exemption certificate number, and 

the date on whioh ballot was delivered or mailed'whiah 

list shall be kept up from day to day0 The applications, 

poll tax reoeipts, exemption certifiaates, or affidavits 

of loss thereof, shall also be open to publio inspection 

at regular offioe hours, but under such reasonable rules 

and regulations as the county olerk may adopt to safeguard the 8~8 and to reasonably economize his opm time 

while they are in his keeping, 

II 

. . . . a 

Article 2959, stipulates that "the person when he pays it (the 

poll tax) shall be entitled to his poll tax receipt." 

Article 2968% "ExemptVon oertifioates of persons 

residing in a city 10,000 or more, 

"In the event of loss of oertifioate of exemption 

the voter may secure a reissue under his old number, 

by making affidavit of such loss before the County 

Tax Collector." 

Article 2968a. -Exemption aertificates to persons not subject to 

the disqualifiaations sat out in Artiole 2954, 

"...who (do) not reside in a city of ten thousand inhabitants or more, and who is exempt from the payment 

of a poll tax by reason of the faot that he or she has 

not yet reached the age of twenty-one years on the first 

day of January preoeding the levy, or who is exempt from 

the payment of a poll tax because he or she was not a 

resident of the State on the first day of January preceding the levy, but who shall have since become eligible 

to vote by reason of length of residsnos or age, shall, 

on or before the thirty-first day of January of the yser 

in which ho or she offers to vote, obtain from the wasses8or and Collector of Taxes for the county of his or 

her residenoe a certificate of exemption from the payment of a poll tax, and no such person who has failed 

or refused to obtain such certificate of exemption from 

the payment of a poll tax shall be allowed to vote, cQD 
Honorable H. Pat Edwards, pangs 5 

"In the event the exempted voter holding oertificate 

under this Article shall remove from the county in which 

he resided when same was issued, to another oour&,y in 

this State, he shall be required to present his oertifioats of exemption to the Assessor and Collector of taxes 

of the county of his new residenoe~for reissue of ragistration and endorsement at least twenty days before any 

election at which he expects to vote. 

"In the event of the loss of oertifioatm of exemption, 

the voter may seoure a reissue under his old number by 

making affidavit of such loss before the County Tax Assessor and Collector." 

Penal Code, Article 216, reads: 

"Any judge of an election or primary who wilfully 

permits a person to vote, whose nems,doas not appear on 

the list of qualified voters of the preoinct and who 

fails to present his poll tax raoeipt or oertificats of 

sxanption or make affidavit of its loss of misplacement 

or inadvertently left at home, except in osees where no 

oertifioate of exemption or tax receipt is required, 

shall be fined not exceeding five hundred dollars." 

Penal Cods, Artiole 217, provides thatr 

"Any judge of any election who shall refuse to receive 

the vote of any qualified elector who, when his vote is 

objected to shows by his own oath that he is entitled 

to vote, or who shall refuse to deliver an official bal: 

lot to one entitled to vote under the law, or who shall 

wilfully refuse to receive a ballot after one entitled 

to vote has legally folded and retuned sama, shall be 

fined not to exceed five hundred dollars." 

Penal Code, Article 232, is as followsr 

"If any person knowing himself not to he a qualified 

voter, shall at any election vote for or egainst any 

officer to be then chosen, or for or against any proposition to be determined by said election, ha shall be 

confined in the penitentiary not less than two nor more 

than five years." 

we *nswer your questions respectively as follows: 

First question: The statutes, Articles 2968 and 2968~~~ authorize the tax assessor and oollector to re-issue a certificate of exemption when the original has been lost, but we have been unable to find 
honorable H. Pat Edwards, page 6 O-5881 

any statute authorizing that offiaer to issue a duplicate poll tax 

reoaipt. 

We therefore answer this question in the negative. 

Second question? We are not prepared to say that a tax assessor 

and collector is without authority to issue a certificate, such as is 

desoribed in this question, which may be used for some purposs, but, 

it is our opinion that ths provisions of the pertinrmt statutes quoted 

above make it obvious that suah a certificate may not be used for voting purposes. In other rords, such certificates era not raao@zed 

by our election laws, 

Third question: In vim of our answers to your first,and seaond 

questions, it is not necessary to answer this question, 

Fourth qusatior~t We have in answer to your first question called 

your attention to the statutes authorizing the tax assessor and oollector to m-issue a certificate of exmption. However, there is no 

statute authoricing such officer to issue such a certifioate as is 

described in this question, and if such a certificate wme issued, it 

is not one reaognized by our election laws. Pve therefore answer this 

question in the negative0 

Trusting that the foregoing filly answers your inquiries, we are 

Very truly yours 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

DAtdb:wa 

APPROVED APRIL 18, 1944 

s/Gee. P. Blaokburn 

ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS (acting) 

By s/David Wuntoh 

David %x&oh 

Assistant 

Approved Opinion Committee By EWE Chairman