THEA~ORNEY GENERAL 

OFTEXAS 

Aus~riu 11. Texan 

October 3, 1957 

Mr. Coke R. Stevenson, Jr. 

Administrator 

Texas Liquor Control Board 

Austin, Texas Opinion NO. W-269 

RE: In a local option 

election where the 

polls close at 7:00 

P.M. would it be 

legal for the election 

judge to stand a clerk 

at the end of any line 

of voters at 7~00 P.M. 

and then permit all 

of those in line 

ahead of that clerk 

to come inside and cast 

their ballots as, though 

they had been inside 

before the 7:00 P.M. 

closing time? 

Dear Mr. Stevenson: 

You have requested our opinion on the question of 

whether at the hour for closing the polls in a local option 

election, the presiding judge of the election may place a 

clerk at the end of any line of voters present and waiting 

to vote, and allow all those in front of the clerk to vote 

in the election. 

The Texas Liquor Control Act, under which local 

option elections are held, provides that the "general 

election laws" are to be followed except where they conflict with the provisions of the Texas Liquor Control Act, 

Art. 666, Sec. 36, Vernon's ~Penal Code. The Texas Liquor 

Control Act does not provide for the hours of opening and 

closing the polls but the Texas Election Code, Article 

2.01 provides as follows: 

In all elections, general, special, 

or primary; the polls shall be open from seven 

olclock a.m. to seven o'clock p.m. in all 

counties having a population of one hundred 
Mr. Coke R. Stevenson, Jr., page 2 (W-269) 

thousand (100,000) or more according to the 

last Federal Census and in all other counties 

the polls shall be opened at 8 a.m. and 

remafning open until 7 p.m. The election 

shall be held for one (1) day only." 

The determination of the question which you have 

asked turns on what constitutes closing the polls. We 

have carefully researched the question and have been 

unable to find any decision in American Jurisprudence defining "closing the polls" which is not based upon a statutory definition. 

After a careful consideration of the purposes and 

intents of the Texas Election Code, as set forth in Article 

1.01, it is our opinion that the word "polls" as used in 

Article 2.01 of the Texas Election Code refers to the 

place in which the election is to be held. Adams v. Corwin, 

118 Misc. 701, 195 N.Y.S. 41, 42 '(1922). Accordingly, 

the provision providing that the polls shall be opened 

at seven a.m. means that the place where the election is 

to be held is to be opened for the purpose of receiving 

the votes of the electors, and that the building or place 

wherein the election is to be held shall remain open until 

7 o'clock p.m. When the building or place is to be closed, 

i.e., the "closing of the polls," it is our opinion that all 

persons at the polls who are present and waiting to vote 

should be allowed to begin and complete the formal act of 

casting their ballots. We are of the further opinion that 

if the polling place is not sufficient to hold all persons 

who have presented themselves to vote at the time designated 

for the closing of the polls with due regard to the order 

and decorum of the election, the election judge may allow 

the overflow to remain outside, taking such precautions as 

necessary to see that no persons ariving after seven o'clock 

join the group of persons waiting to vote. One manner of 

preventing late-comers from joining the group would be to 

station a clerk outside to see that no persons who arrive 

after the hour for closing were allowed to vote. 

SUMMARY 

The closing of the polls withln the 

meaning of the Texas Election Code 

means the closing of the room or 

building where the election is to be 

held, allowing all those at the polls 

waiting to vote, whether within or 
Mr. Coke R. Stevenson, Jr., page 3 (Wb269) 

without, to begin and complete the 

voting of their ballots. All other 

persons should be excluded, and a 

proper method of so doing is to 

station a clerk at the end of the 

line of voters. 

Very truly yours, 

JM:dmp 

APPROVED: 

OPINION COMMITTEE: 

George P. Blackburn, Chairman 

C. K. Richards 

Leonard Passmore 

J. C. Davis 

REVIEWED FOR THE ATTORNEY 

GENERAL BY: 

James N. Ludlum 

WILL WILSON 

Attorney General 

BY 

ohn Minton