OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF **TEXAS AUSTIN** 

**a*** **c MANN**  **All----**

HonorableV. 0. ?darehall., Ohairman sttte Soil Conservetlon EOt%4 Profestionsl

BulldIne Temple, Texas
Dear Sirr

This will no of Oatobfc 19, requeet pt of pour letter
on rr05 this departo? 'PornpIe

is the preolno8 ot l%ndownen tot0 who lirs

eide the eorperste l5mlt# within this prsalnat OS the pririlqp of rotin~.
@The purpose of the S.&u aa ie written, an4 the prooielons under whish it mwt be earrisd out, seems to be such ~6 plsaea the Beard ohrgedHon. V. C. Marehall,Pace 2

with the responsIbIlIty of aarrplne the law ;;t, In an llnpoaalbla position. Our question : Is it possible for the State Board to proaaed with electiona ior the oreatlon of Sol1 Conservation

Districtsan4 meet the requirementsOS the law as wrltten'lv COnstruing**your** questionwhioh Is In Itself verF broad, along with the iaota furnishedan4 the Attorney heneral'e OpinionsNumbers O-906, 0-lEO4, O-1383 an4 O-1496, us **4eduoe** that ou want to know whether an elaationha14 aa provided In ieotioh 5, subdIvIsIons c, D an4 R of ths Stats 9011 Conaaroation Aot, Ii.

B. No. 20, 46th Legislature, will be legal IT the "votingboxv or vpol1I.u~ plaae" (where the votes are oaat) Is looatad within tha corporatelimits of a oity; that Is, where the preolnot Itsalf embraoea territory Iu the oity Unit6 an4 territory outside the olty 1Imlts.

Frequently,ths term Voting box* arid "voting preainat~ are used loosely as having the same meaning. i7e aeorlbe to them CIff.%rent meanings. Voting praolnot"has referenceto an area defined as suah by the oounty oommisslonera~oourt. Artfoles 2933, 2934, an4 E935, R. C. S. of Texas, 1925. Voting box" has refersnoe to the plaoe or looatlonwhere the alsotlon Itself is held, tha WpollIng plaoew. Artloles 2931 an4 2932, R. C. S. of Texas.

Iu *Tecupla

west itour latter and example,you reter to the ountry boxW ae being a plaoe within tha aorporate limIts~,oi

Temple whera people vote. It Is assume4 that you we the word Voting box* In the sam mm80 as we. Or4lnerIly,suoh an arraneemant would present no problem, so long aa tha loaatlon OZ ths "voting bat*

was within the boundariesof the praolnot. Rowever, It would present a problem In sums oa8eY i as in municipal electionswhloh has been taken oars o by statuts. ArtioleS 2931, 2934 an4 2951, R. C. S. of Texas 1925. No such OXpress provIsIonshave bean made for the elaotions IuquIrs4 about by you. The pertinentprovision8 of tha S0f.lWnservationAat, supra, hereafterreferred to as the Aot, are as tolloW0:

"C.

. . To assist the Boar4 In tha detarmInatIonof auoh a4miuIetretivepraatiaabIlIty an4 fsaeIbIlItp,It ahall'be tha 4ut i& of tha Board, within a reasonabletime a en$ry of the findine that there is usa4 farHon. V. C. Earshall, Pace 3

the or~anlxatIonOS the proposeddlstrlotand the determinationof the boundsrise thereof, to hold an eleatlonwithin the propose4 4Istriot UPon the ProPosltlonof the creationor the dlstrlot, and to OQU8e due not100 OS suoh eleatlo:~

to be Riven, whloh notioe shall set forth the boundariesof the proposed 4IstrIot.

. . ."

"D. The Eoaf4 shall pay all expensesSor the issuanoeOS suoh notioes a~& the conduot OS suoh hearlugs an4 eleotlons,and shall supervisa the oonduot OS suoh hearlnpsand elaotious.lt h 11 I mropriate regulations :h: oonde::;

:I' suoh h g earlnus and ovemlIngeleati provldl one, and nfi for the regletratlon prior to the date OS the cieatlon OS all eligiblevoters. All such elcctlonsheld uuder the provisionaOS this Act shall be In oonformltp with the GeneralLeotion Laws of thle state, except as herein otherwise provided, an4 sroept that the ballot shall not **be** numbered or marke4 Sor I4entIfIoatIon purposes.
*E. The Boar4 shall publish the result of such eleatIon an4 shall thrreafteroonslderah& determinewhether the operationof the dlstrlot within the defined boundaries Is e4mInIstratIvely praotloablean4 feasible

. . .v (Underaoorlng ours) Electionshe14 under the State Soil Conservation Aot are napecial el--:otIons" as oontraated

with *general electIonsw,and being such, we look first to the Aat an4 Its moessary Implloatlonsfor thr prooedure to be Sollowed. Xallis v. H. S. Williama, 101 Tex. 396. The Aot elves the State Board broad authoritywith reterenoe to Cleotions provided Sor therein8 It merely directs that they be held in oonformityto the General EleotlonLaws. In our **opinion,** this 1s **merely** a gensral dlrrotion to the Boar4 apb as t0 the details of the elaotlon suoh as 4eaIgnatIn8 polling pleaes, the dlaoretion la nlth the State Board. This position ia SortiSle by the feat that there is nothing **In** the General Eleotion Laws speoISloallY Provi4ing that all eleotlons shall be held at the *pollInePlaQes" ox "votingboxes* deal~mted by the County COmmIssIeners' Court; au4 further,by the Seat that there Is nothIng inHon. V. C. Marshall, Page 4

the Ganaral xleOtiOn Lai%¶ speolfying

What per8On Or body shall designatethe wpollingpLecee”, it being merely implied that the person or body in charge of the eleation shall do so. The Board would hsvs the same authority in this reapeat as would the Commlsslonere* Court or city oOuOi1, with reSp8Ot t0 eleotlonevihlah they “oonduotand supervise*.

It has been held by this departmentthat under the Aot, inoorporated alties and towns should not be included in soil conservation alstrlotsand that landomers, to be eligibleto vote, must reside in the distriot (whiahwould, of oourse,mean that they aould not vote if residents**or** an lnaorporated olty or town). Attorney Generel’sOplnlon No-O-1353,September30, 1939. It has ale0 been held by this department that in an eleotionheld under the above quoted seotlons, *votingboxesw or “polling plaaeV shall be provided ln eaah eleotlonpreoinot, previously formed **by** the CommIssionera* Court of the oomty under authorityof Artlale 2935, supra. Attorney Oeneral’s OpinionNo.O-1495,Ootober 10,‘1939. The latter opinion tight.

**be** construedto mean that the partioularvoting boxes* or “pollingplaoss” ordinsrllyused In eaoh eleotion precinot ehould be used in eleatlonaheld under the Aot. Such eonstruc3tlon

1s not to be placed on that opinion. The writer or that opinion used the words “voting box* intending them to mean *votingpreolnot*,as will be seen from reading them In oonneotion with the questionasked and the entire paragraph,of whioh they are s part.

In your quoted statement,you say, Wevidently the Board has no authoritybeyond the bounaarleaof s proposed soil croneervatlon,dietriot, and thereforeen eleotlon oannot be held within the aorporatellmlts Or the City
0r ~0mpw. YilthoUt oommentlngon the aorreotnessof your oonolueion,one way or the other, ainoe It has been held that the oonvenienoeof the voter 1s to be ooneidered in the holding or sleatlons,Dubose V. w00a8, 163 5. W. 3, and since a sol1 conservation dlstrlot should not inolude any part.

of aa inoorporated town, you are advised that Where a partloularvoting preolnathas within it8 boundaries soma territorywhloh Is also within the OOrPOratelimits of a city or town, the Board should desimate as the “Polling P~SCB* a place 1ooateC iiiViZ portion of the preoimt which lies outside the city or toWL Rowever,with feepeatHon. V. G. I$arshall, Page 5

to your question,namely, the vlagallty"or the election, if it were otherwiselegal and no oue were distranchised thereby,the rasults would probably be sustainedby the courts, though the "pollingplacav was not even located Ephe boundariesof the preclnat. RalE. Parish,

. ., 151 E. Vi.

1089. As to the legalityof the election if held within tha precinctand aleo within the corporatelimits 0r a town, such as Temple, it is our opinion that its legalitywould likewise be sustained by the courts.

With regsrd to the selectionof "pollingplaces", your attention 1s respectfully directedto Article 2932, I;. C. S. of Texas, 1925, which says that where practicable 80 to do, all elections shall be held in a public building within the limits of the electionprecinctwhere the alection is being held. This provision of course is advisory and not mandatory, and, in our opinion,whether or not it were foIlowedwould be within the sound disavetionof the Board. Therefore,it is the opltiion of this department, and you are so advised, that the answer to your question is that the "voting box" for an electionheld in connectionwith the organizationof a soil conservationdistrict,when part.of the precinct lies within the boundaries of an incorporated city or town, should be located outside the city limits;but, if the elecmere held at a box locatedwithin the city limits and it were otherwiselegal and no one were disfranchised thereby, the election could not be successfully attacked in the courts. Trusting that this satisfictorily answersyour inquiry,

we are
Yours very truly hTTORN%p GENEF~ Oy TEXA8
JN:ET BY APPROVEDNOV 17, 1939 James Noel

h2ala c Mann Assistant

ATTORREY'DENERAL

OF TEXAS APPROVED

opinion committee By B'hB bhairmell