OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

a* c MANN 

All---- 

Honorable V. 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 ohrged 
Hon. 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 Districts an4 meet the requirements OS the law as wrltten'lv 

COnstruing your question whioh Is In Itself verF 

broad, along with the iaota furnished an4 the Attorney heneral'e Opinions Numbers O-906, 0-lEO4, O-1383 an4 O-1496, 

us 4eduoe that ou want to know whether an elaation ha14 

aa provided In i eotioh 5, subdIvIsIons c, D an4 R of ths 

Stats 9011 Conaaroation Aot, Ii. B. No. 20, 46th Legislature, 

will be legal IT the "voting boxv or vpol1I.u~ plaae" (where the 

votes are oaat) Is looatad within tha corporate limits 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 

reference to 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 looatlon where the alsotlon Itself is held, tha WpollIng 

plaoew. Artloles 2931 an4 2932, R. C. S. of Texas. 

Iu 

*Tecupla west it 

our 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 boundaries of the praolnot. Rowever, It 

would present a problem In sums oa8eY 

i 

as in municipal 

elections whloh has been taken oars o by statuts. ArtioleS 

2931, 2934 an4 2951, R. C. S. of Texas 1925. No such OXpress provIsIons have bean made for the elaotions IuquIrs4 

about by you. The pertinent provision8 of tha S0f.l Wnservation Aat, supra, hereafter referred to as the Aot, are 

as tolloW0: 

"C. . . To assist the Boar4 In tha detarmInatIon of auoh a4miuIetretive praatiaabIlIty an4 fsaeIbIlItp, It ahall'be tha 4ut 

of tha Board, within a reasonable time a i& 

en$ry of the findine that there is usa4 far 
Hon. V. C. Earshall, Pace 3 

the or~anlxatIon OS the proposed dlstrlot and 

the determination of the boundsrise thereof, 

to hold an eleatlon within the propose4 4Istriot 

UPon the ProPosltlon of the creation or the 

dlstrlot, and to OQU8e due not100 OS suoh 

eleatlo:~ to be Riven, whloh notioe shall set 

forth the boundaries of the proposed 4IstrIot. 

. . ." 

"D. The Eoaf4 shall pay all expenses Sor 

the issuanoe OS suoh notioes a~& the conduot OS 

suoh hearlugs an4 eleotlons, and shall supervisa 

the oonduot OS suoh hearlnps and 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 eligible voters. All 

such elcctlons held uuder the provisiona OS this 

Act shall be In oonformltp with the General Leotion 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 thrreafter oonslder ah& 

determine whether the operation of the dlstrlot 

within the defined boundaries Is e4mInIstratIvely 

praotloable an4 feasible . . .v (Underaoorlng 

ours) 

Elections he14 under the State Soil Conservation 

Aot are napecial el--:otIons" asoontraated with *general 

electIonsw, and being such, we look first to the Aat an4 Its 

moessary Implloatlons for thr prooedure to be Sollowed. 

Xallis v. H. S. Williama, 101 Tex. 396. The Aot elves the 

State Board broad authority with reterenoe to Cleotions 

provided Sor therein8 It merely directs that they be held 

in oonformity to the General Eleotlon Laws. 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 *pollIne PlaQes" ox 

"voting boxes* deal~mted by the County COmmIssIeners' 

Court; au4 further, by the Seat that there Is nothIng in 
Hon. V. C. Marshall, Page 4 

the Ganaral xleOtiOn Lai%¶ speolfying What per8On Or body shall 

designate the wpolling pLecee”, 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 eleotlone vihlah they “oonduot and supervise*. 

It has been held by this department that under 

the Aot, inoorporated alties and towns should not be 

included in soil conservation alstrlots and that landomers, to be eligible to vote, must reside in the distriot 

(whiah would, of oourse, mean that they aould not vote if 

residents or an lnaorporated olty or town). Attorney 

Generel’s Oplnlon No-O-1353, September 30, 1939. It has 

ale0 been held by this department that in an eleotion held 

under the above quoted seotlons, *voting boxesw or “polling 

plaaeV shall be provided ln eaah eleotlon preoinot, previously formed by the CommIssionera* Court of the oomty 

under authority of Artlale 2935, supra. Attorney Oeneral’s 

Opinion No.O-1495, Ootober 10,‘1939. The latter opinion 

tight. be construed to mean that the partioular voting 

boxes* or “polling plaoss” ordinsrlly used In eaoh eleotion 

precinot ehould be used in eleatlona held 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 *voting preolnot*, as will be seen from reading 

them In oonneotion with the question asked and the entire 

paragraph, of whioh they are s part. 

In your quoted statement, you say, Wevidently 

the Board has no authority beyond the bounaarlea of s proposed soil croneervatlon,dietriot, and therefore en eleotlon 

oannot be held within the aorporate llmlts Or the City 

0r ~0mpw. YilthoUt oommentlng on the aorreotness of 

your oonolueion, one way or the other, ainoe It has been 

held that the oonvenienoe of 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 partloular voting preolnat has within it8 boundaries soma 

territory whloh Is also within the OOrPOrate limits 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 feepeat 
Hon. V. G. I$arshall, Page 5 

to your question, namely, the vlagallty" or the election, 

if it were otherwise legal and no oue were distranchised 

thereby, the rasults would probably be sustained by the 

courts, though the "polling placav was not even located 

Ephe boundaries of the preclnat. RalE. Parish, 

. ., 151 E. Vi. 1089. As to the legality of the 

election if held within tha precinct and aleo within the 

corporate limits 0r a town, such as Temple, it is our 

opinion that its legality would likewise be sustained by 

the courts. 

With regsrd to the selection of "polling places", 

your attention 1s respectfully directed to 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 election precinct where the alection is being held. This provision of course is advisory 

and not mandatory, and, in our opinion, whether or not it 

were foIlowed would be within the sound disavetion of 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 election held in connection with the organization of a soil conservation district, 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 

located within the city limits and it were otherwise legal 

and no one were disfranchised thereby, the election could 

not be successfully attacked in the courts. 

Trusting that this satisfictorily answers your 

inquiry, we are 

Yours very truly 

hTTORN%p GENEF~ Oy TEXA8 

JN:ET 

BY 

APPROVED NOV 17, 1939 James Noel 

h2ala c Mann 

Assistant 

ATTORREY'DENERAL OF TEXAS APPROVED 

opinion committee 

By B'hB 

bhairmell