. 724 

OFtiCE OF,THE ATTORNEY GENERAL ~OF TEXAS 

AUSTIN 

GROVER SELLERS ,, .: 

A‘rrORNEY OENERAL I 

Honorable B. C. Roosar 

County AttOmey 

Howard County 

Bfe; springa, Texas 

Dear 3frr Oplnlon BIO. o-e564 

Ro: Thor authority oi .th 

olrrk to Is5 

Your reoent letter t a 

rolloWing hots: 

oonmilraioner 

tion. Said tlon blank8 

ed by said party, are 

quss 

B dspartlaent*8 opinion on the follorlng 

lark*8 authority to issue mm blrnh. 

sued, what ntmbers she11 the olsrk 

giva ths AeW blanks. 

3. Do all petition blanks ham to be aooountau rorl 
725 

Honorable Ii. C. Hooaer, Pago 2 

4. Should the party saklng the applioation 

for petition blanks be required to make an affldavft etatfnp what beoame of the mtilated patition blanka. 

Penal Code, 1925, am amandod, Artiole $65, motion 

32, amended Aote oi 1943, 48th Legirlaturo, pago 509, Chapter 

325, paragraph 7, deal8 with local option ol&otionr and among 

other things provldor that; 

-+ * l Upon tbo appiioatlon ot any one or 

more qwfried voters of my county, jueioe prooinob, u6 lnoorporot~d town or elty, the oounty 

olork of suoh runty mhall iaouo to tho opplloaut 

or applloantr a patl*ion to be olrouldttod among 

the qwllrlod voters thoroof for the 1l@wturor 

or those quallfiod, votore in ruoh l a’oa aho donire 

that a l&al option olootlon bo. o&led theroin 

for tho purposo of betermining whether the oalo 

or alcohollo ,beversges 0r ono or more of the variouo typos and alooholio ocntaat shall bo prohibited or logalizod althin th+ prmaribsd limits 

of ouoh oounty, juetieo prooinot or Jnoor 

town or oity. The, petition p10 Issued sha P 

orated 

1 olom1~ rtats the tsauo or imaues to be voted upon In 

5uoh olootionj oaoh suoh petition ahall show the 

date vi ita issue by the oouaty olerk and shall be 

soriellp ntunberod, end oaoh page of suoh petition 

ahall bear the same date a& serial number, and 

shall bear the real or the county olork. The ocunty olerk shall doliver a8 &my copies o’f raid patition as may be roqujrod by the applloant and casoh 

OOpy ahall boar the data, number and 5iw1~ on oaoh 

page CM mqnire8 in the oriplin&l. The county olsrk 

shall keep a oopy of eaoh euoh p;t,it$ and a raaord of the applioanti9 thorefor. 

It la well to boar in tind that it is tho petition 

that oonier,re upon the ocm&s8ionora1 oourt Ule juriadiotion 

t,o order an oleotfon am3 that the oomi881onars* oourt is a 

oourt or. rooord. Pouell v. Bond (?laoo Coart OS Civil Appealr, 

104ll 150 3. #a (21 337. Thus. a petitton in a 10081 Option 

oleo:lon is anal@ua to a ploidln(r In a law ruit and that 

the proteotive sld precautionary measuraa ln tbe above statute 

is to sea that the eleotiou isau3 be aoouratelg presented and 
726 

Honorable H. C. Hooser, Fage 3 

to prevsnt fraud and impoaitlon upon thd ao.mlsrlonere~ oourt 

and prop10 in orlllfli; and OofldlWtinpa an elsotloh. It is, 

therefor@, our opinion that offiolals should and eon adopt 

any muns th@y think propar to gravont h‘oud In tha oalllng 

8hd OOItdUGt~np Of 6 10081 OptlOtl 818QtiOll. 

Our statutes provide tor ths subatltutlon or loat 

reoords and psperpl (R-C.)?. 77) and t&s oourta have held that 

this relordy Is not exoluslvo but soou~ulstlre end that any 

other method can be subutituted thut rould bring about the 

eme reeult, i.a. supply auoh lost reoords or papers. The 

oourte ham further held that a party dorrlrlng to supply 8uOh 

lost paporr rbould xaslm affidavit o? tl% loso or drrtruotlon 

of the papers he seeks to r6iproduos. Houston v. Rlythe, 60 

Tsx.SOBj Byden v’. Dunawry, i?9 S; a, 829; Strohmyer v. :Ying, 

77 5. ‘if. 977. 

%e therefore nnswer your yuoationa as follomr 

1. The oounty olz2rk is aruthorlzed to issue new 

petition blanks. 

2. Now numbered blenke should be given to the 

party. To llluetrets~ if t!m twanty (EO) potftion blank8 

were rm&ered one to twenty, lnaluslve, and fiftoea of them 

had baen destroyed, thsn the fifteen mu blankn should be 

mxnberbd, twenty-one, twenty-two, ato., Ug to snd lnoludlhg 

thirty-five. 

3. ft 1s our opinion th8t all petftioa blank8 

should be scownted for and It ia rupgested that the reoord 

or stub of the fifteen 1Ost blanks should shaw that the80 

petitions 80 nmbnred ham been destroyed and that In lieu 

thereor the new nmbored petitions havs been handed to the 

applioant. 

4. As a proosutlonary m88~re it in suegaatsd that 

the party mskine:'the sppllostion for those patition blenks 

should nake an affidavit ahorrlnp ahat beosrce or the mtflatsd 

petition bl8nk8; or that they have bsen lost, 
727 

Honorable II. 0, Rooser, faga 4