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Honorable Luther C. Johnson County Attorney Anderson County Palestine,Texas OpinionNo. 

### O-4914
Re: Is a ,voteof a majority of the members of the county executive committeerequired to select the demoop%tfC-nominee to be placed upon the ballot oflthe general election or would a vote of a majority of the members of the committee present at themeeting be sufficient to select the party nomineewhere thenominee selectedby voters at the primary election declines the nomination prior to the general election?
Dear Sir:
We have your telegram oft October 

### 13, 1942, requesting the opinion of this department on the above stated question.

Article 

### 3165,Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes,provides:
"A nominee may decline and annul his nominatlon'bydelivering to the officerwith whom the certificate of his nomination is filed, ten days before the elec.tion,if it be for a city office, and twenty days in other cases, a declaration in writing, signed by hlm.before some officer authorized to take acknow,ledgements.Upon such declination (or in case.of death.of a nominee), the executive committee of a party, or a ma~jorltyof them for the State, district or county, as the office to be nomina,ted may require,may nominate a candidate to supply the vacancy by filingwith the Secretary of State in the case of ,Stateor district officers, orwith the county judge in the case of county or precinct officers, a certificatedulyHonorable Luther C. Johnson,, page 2 (O-4914)

signed and acknowledgedby them, setting forth the cause of the vacancy, thename of the new nominee, the office for which he was nominated andwhen and how he was nominated. No executive committee shall ever have power of nomination, except where a nominee has died or declined the nomination as provided in this article.”
We have failed to find any case, by any of theAppellate Courts construing the abovementioned statutewherein the question herein involvedhas been discussed or passed upon. However, the case of Walker, et al v. Hopping, 

### 226 S.W. 

### 146, construing a similarprovision of Article 3107,Revised Statutes, 1911, (nowArticle 3118, Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes),amongother thlw ,holds In effect that a statute providing that a vacancy in the office of chairman' or member of the county committee of a party shall be filled by a majority vote of the executive commit' tee, contemplatesan act of the committee as a body, ,and,In the absence of some provlsion of law to the contrary, itwould take a majority of the members of such committee to constitute a quorumwhich could act as the committee.

It is stated inWords and Phrases, PermanentEdition, Volume 

### 26,page 103:

,"Inconstruinga party rule giving the executive committee of the party the power to fill vacancies on the county ticketby a majority vote of all the executive committee, itwas said by the court that it seems clear, taking thewhole rule together, tha't

the provisions for fillingvacancies, on the ticketby a 'majorityof all the executive committee'means, at the least, a majority vote of all the personswho are in factmembers of the committee at the time the vacancy is filled. Ordinarily the phrase quoted might not receive such construction. We have so decided in two cases recentlybeforeus, but, of,course, the question in every case is, What do thewords mean in a particular connection,and under the particular circumstances? In general, theymean a majority of the quorum (the quorumbeing a majority of the whole, body), but when the rule provides for a : different test, such decisions ceased to apply."

In view of the foregoing, it is our opinion that in the absence of some provision of law to the, contrary, a majorlty of themembers of an executive committee of a party constitutes a quorumwhich can act as the committee. In otherHonorable Luther C. Johnson, page 

### 3 (O-4914)

words, if a majority of themembers of the executive of a party are present, itwill take a majority vote present to nominate a candidate. committee of those
Trusting that the foregoing fully answersyour inquiry,we are - -

Very
ATTORRRY trulyyours

GENERAL OF TEXAS

**BY S/** 

APPROVED Ott 

### 14, 1942 S/ Grover Sellers First AssistantAttorney General
AW:db:bt Approved Opinion Committee by RWF, Chairman Ardell Williams Ardell Williams Assistant