OROVER SELLERS 

W- 1 

Hontwable limier L. #Ions 

County Attamey 

Wheeler County 

Wheeler, Texas 

Dear Sir8 opinion i?o. 0-6054 

Ret Vader the frcts,submitted 

and under Artlales 3111 

and 3112, ver130~~n Bnnotated Civil Statutes, doe8 

the Chairman of the Whuteler 

County Democrat10 Executive 

Committee have tha right to 

certify the name of the applioant em a oandldate for 

the oftLee of State Representative in and fer said 

aounty? 

Thin will acknewledge reoelpt et your letter, dated 

May 20th, whlei~ reada, In part, a6 tellers: 

tt 

. . . 

"Hr. Grump a6 ChaIrman of the County Exeeutlve Demooratic cemmlttee has reaeived an appllaatien from one Hr. R. L. Templeton for a plaoe 

on the ballot tobe Peed by and for Wheeler County In the oorlng iirst Demeeratla primary. Mr. 

Templeton la a oandldate for the offloe of Representative. 

"Hr. Grump advises that there Is no district 

exeautive aommittee and the filinga in such paoes 

are made with the four county ahalrmen respeatlve1Y. In.the aase at hand no form of auknowledgment 

or verification appears on the application. Maturally, Mr. Grump is anxious to have you pas8 upon 

this matter at your earliest eonvenlence, if' at all 

practical. There being no exact preoedent by aourt 

decision to the knowledge or either the chairman 

OF I, it appears very Important that the former 

have the benefit of an opinion from you or gour 

staff In order th&t a generally satisfactory action 

on his part may performed. 

1, " . . . . 
Honorable Homer L. Roes, page 2 

We further set forth the application in question as 

disclosed by your enoloaed brlefr 

"R. L. Templeton 

WellIngton, Texan 

*To thb:&halrman of the Damooratla Rxecutlve 

Committee In and f'or Wheeler County; Texast' 

"Dear Slrt 

"I hereby make applloatlon to have my name 

placed on the ballot to be used at the Democratia 

Primary for the seleotian of Democratlo nominees 

for State amd CeumtJr effioas at the election to be 

held throughout the State on July 22nd, 1944 as a 

candidate bar the offlee of' State Representative 

fer the 122nd Representative Mstrlot of Texas, 

aempoaed of Uelllmgsworth, Wheeler, Gray and Donleg 

Counties. 

"In connection therewith I hereby enalose the 

sum 6f $1.00, flllng fee. 

"I am twenty-four year6 of age and was born 

In Wellington, Colllngsworth County, Texas, where 

I have resided and had my oltlxenship all of my 

life. I am a Democrat and pledge avself to support the nominees of the Demcbaratla Primary. 

"Respeotisllly submitted, 

R. L. Templeton (In writing) 

(signature) 

R. L. Templgton (typed) 

Poet office address; 

Wellington, Texas. " 

Articles 3111 and 3112, Vernon's Annotated Civil 

Statatee, respectfailly provides 

"The request tar have the name of any person 

affillatlng with any party plaoed on the official 

ballot for a genera3 primary as a oandidkt&?f'dr; 

the nomination of' suoh pafty for any State offiae 

shall be governed by the following: 

“1. Suoh request shall be In writing signed 

and duly acknowledged by the person deslrlng swoh 

notilnation, or by twe)nty-i'lve qnaliiled voters. 

Zt shall state the ooanpation, oountg oi residence 
Honorable Homer &. M~BB, paSe 3 

and post-office address of m~h pereen, and if 

made by him shall aleo state his age. 

“2 Amy suoh request ehall be filed with the 

State &airman mot later than the first Wonday la 

Jume preeedlrg rlnah prinrry, and shall be aoneidered 

filed if aent to suoh oh8lz!man at hia port-offloe 

addrem by reglatered mall from'uy point In thin 

State. 

" . . ..* (mlphqeis aurs) 

"Amy peraom desiring his mame to’appear on 

the offlalal balZi&t an a aandldate for the namlnatlon for Chief JPrstlae or Aeeoelate Juetiae of the 

Court of Clvll Appeals, or for Representative In 

Congress, of for,State Senator whem rruoh Sen*torlal, 

Bl&rlot lu oompelled of one or more than bne CountJt, 

or for Representative, or dlrtrlat judge or dletrlat attorney In repreremtatlve or judlalal dle- 

,:trlatra cempoaed of one er more than me oounty, 

shall file with the ohalrman of the ereoutlve ooallttee'of the party for the dlstrlat, said request 

with referennoe to'8 damdldate~for a State aomlnatloa, 

or if there be no ohalrmam ef aueh dletrlat exeautlve oommlttee, then with the ohairman of eaah aounty 

composing euah dl6trlot, net later than the third 

Monday In Hay preoedlng the gemeral primary. Suoh 

requests m&y llkewlre be filed not later than eaid 

date by amy tuemty-five (25) qmallfied votere xesldent within suoh dirtriot, rlgned.and duly acknowledged. Immediately after raid date e&oh euah dletrlct 

chairmawshall aertlfy the namoe of all peracnlr for 

when emoh requestm,'have been filed to the oounty ahalrman of each oompty oompoelng suah dirtriot. If eald 

name Is not aubmltted or filed within said time, same 

shall not be plaoed upon raid ballet." (Bhphasla mm) 

These ehaataente were deelped to promote fair dealing, good faith and prevent lnjuetloe, by demylng frarrdulent 

or frlvoleus flllmge sf oandldates whloh might be made solely 

for the purpose of deaelvlng,the electorate and without any 

Intention or hope on the part of the aamdldate of being macessful. The Legislature has seen fit to lay down these 

requialtea aB safeguards. 

Therefore, beferelany oamdldate may submit hlmaelf 

to the qualified voters of this State, he must aomply with 

the prerequisites eet forth In the Artlole 3111, eupra. SUCh 

requirement5 are mamdatery. See oases elted, 20 G.J. #1X3, 

p. 115; 290,J.S. #114, p., 153, lndlaatlng that It Is 80 held 

umlvereally. 
Honorable Hcmer L. lioea, Rage 4 

And in HccCloin v. Betts, et al., (Civ.App. 1936) 95 

S. W. (2d) 1311, the aourt said: 

‘We have aarefullJr 6xulned relator’8 application to have hie name planned on said ballot, a .S 

above stated, and find that It contains everg matter required br law. The only arltlalar, a6 to 

It6 legal mffioleno~; that osuld be rimed 16 that 

relator did mat aokmGrle4ge hi8 request-er appllaatlon for hi8 nane tb be )la@ed 06 the ballot aa required by Wbdlrlrl6n 1 of art1016 3111, B.S. 1925. 

3kt he did vsrlfy 6ame br swearing that~all,of fhi 

faot6 stated in hi6 amUoatiun were true. lRe 

purpose of requiring that ruoh appl1eatlon be aaknouledged 16 to lnrrre t&e a99lloant~r good faith, 

and purpeee In makiw the riqaest, and a6 relator 

duly verified by oath thr osntermbr of his amlloatit% it wir ‘a iubrtmtlrl and rrffiolent oOipllanoo with the mtatmte.” (siii 

In oonrtmlng a rtatutory wo r d l r phra6e the otmrt 

mag t&e Into mnrPrideratlon the meanly ot the 6ame or 818llar 

language umed eleewhere In thr Act or in anether of similar 

mature. See oa8e6 alted, 39 Tex, Jurlr. #108, p. 201. 

Artlole 3113, Vernmm~s A8iaotated dlvil Statutes, 

re*Qi3, in part, an rdbw8: 

‘(Any perusn Qe6lriry Al8 name to appear on 

ths official ballot for the laseral primary, a6.a 

oandldate fer the noalnatlsn for any @ifice to be 

filled by the qualifleU voters of a’aounty or c’ 

portion thereof, or for oounty ahairman, shall 

file with the aounty ohalnran of the county of his 

reeldenoe, not later than SatEzr&ay~before the third 

Monday in June preceding stpoh primary, a written 

r6quest for his name ta, be printed on 6lzeh offloial ballot UB a aandldate for the nminatlon or 

position named titerein, giving his ocawpation and 

mat-office addreee. nlvlnn street and number of 

his reaideme, if witGin a-aity or town, euoh reAnd in Punahard, et al., v. Masterson, et al, 100 

Tex. 479, 101 S. W. 204, the Supreme Court ealdr 

I, Therefore, when an aaknowledgpaent 

is pre&iied, without dealarlng of what the acknowledgment shall aonsiat, It is mea&It that the 

grantor In a deed must appear beiore a duly authorized sitleer and .state that he exeeuted th% 
, . 

Honorable Homer L. l4s66, page 5 

. . lThle werd “aokmowi*adge ’besides 

ZFiegal a&se in whlah It has fer a&turiea been 

used, has alrao a c~mmo~reanlng, umdersfaod by 

every one, which wmlf@rml~r ralata6 to lsomething 

pact. It la a 6OnfesaiQn or aQml66ien of 8ome 

’ prIorMa&. I Reames v. Amber, 4 Leigh (Va.) 557. 

. . . 

The personla authorized to take achnawledgments are 

emumerated~ln Artlole 6602, Vernon86 Annotated Civil Statutes. 

lkvlew of the foregoing, It followsl that %he applloamt has nch cemp~&ed with the pmVf.6ien6 of Artlalea 3111 

and 3112, supra, In &at he ha6 not made the required aaknewledgment or verlflaatiom~nor ha6 he made a Hmubatantial aomplianoe” therewit&. Furthermore, the applleamt has not set 

ferth hle oooupatlen on the applloatlon a6 raqulred by eald 

artlaler . 

In mar opinion, therefore, the ohalkman of the 

‘Wheeler C@lanty Detieoratlo Exeoutlve Committee does not have 

the right to sertlfy the name a? the applloant'for 4 pla@e 

Is a oandldate for the &floe of State.~Representatl+e, 122nd 

Dlstrlot of Texir, 6n the ballot to be used In the Demoaratla 

Primary to be held om July 22, 194, In and for suoh ooumty. 

Trurtlng thlB ratlrf*otorl.lj amawern your Inquiry, 

we are 

Very truly yours, 

A!i’TORNRY dEwIDRAL OF TXXAS 

BY /s/ 

EHlf:db 

APPRQVBD J-UN 7, a944 

Qrover Sellers 

ATTORNRY QEWEBAL OF TEXAS 

Fred C. Chandler 

Fred 0. Ohmdler 

A6616tamt 

Baton N. Hyder, Jr. 

Hlton N. Ryder, Jr. 

APPRQVBD OPINION COlUIUITTEE 

BY /s/ BWB 

CNAIRNAN ”