, 1892-08-16
JEFFERSON COUNTY.

State of Washington ex rel, Charles F.
Bailey, relator, V. l.. ID. Smith, appellant
No. 425. Filed Aug. II, 1892.
The respondent was the clerk OF school
district No. l. of Jefferson county, which
included the city of Port Townsend, and
prior to the annual election Of 1891, pur-
suant to s55 of the general school law of
1890, he published an election notice, in
which he notified the electors of the dis
trict that the polls would be open from 12
IN. to z O'Clock D. m The last prOVisO Of
sec. So required, that in cities and incorpOr-
ated towns the polls should not be open
later than 1 o'clock P. M, and closed not
earlier than p m. The polls did actually
close at O'Clock, at which time the vote
stood $50 in favor of appellant, and $50 in
favor of the respondent who
was a candidate for reelection.
1t may be conceded that the
the requirement of a statute that the polls
should not close earlier than eight O'Clock
is mandatory and 1t may be conceded also
to disregard the notice, and keep the polls
open until the later hour but in our judg-
ment such a concession should not be
made to the respondent since he himself is
charged by the statute with the duty of
specifying in his notice the hours between
which the polls are to be kept open, and
the election officers at such election are
far more likely to be governed in their ac-
tiOns by the wording of the notice than by
an inspection of the law. Moreover, the
electors would also be likely to be misled
and such of them as did not succeed in
reaching the polls before O'Clock would
probably not resort to the statute to ascer-
tain the hour of closing when the notice
published for their information contained
such an error.
Another reason for denying to the re-
spondent any benefit Of this mistake is
that his information contains no allega-
tion that had the polls been kept open
an hour longer he would have been in any
wise benefited by it. In all such cases
there must appear some substantial rea-
son why courts should interfere to over
throw an election, in the absence of any
allegation Of fraud, to the effect that had
there been larger number of votes cast
the result would have been different.
The second point grows out of the
amendment of section 54 of the act of
1889, by section IS, of the act of March 7th,
1891 The original section required gem
eral school elections to be held on the first
Saturday of November, and by section 33
the district clerk was given an official
tenure of one year, and until his successor
should be elected and qualified. Section
25 prescribed the directors should take
Office Immediately after qualifying,
and although no particular time is pre-
scribed It which clerks are to take their
OmceS we think that the sense OF the act
is that they also shall take Office immedi-
ately upon their qualifications. The effect
of the amendment of 1891 was, in our
opinion, to shorten the the terms of exist
ing clerks by two months.
The court below upon an information in
the nature of quo warranto found the con-
trary Of these propositions, and although
the respondent had surrendered his Office,
reinstated him therein, the effect of which
of which was to continue the respondent in
office not only until the end of his One-year
term but also indefinitely thereafter.
The result is judgment appealed from
must be reversed, and new judgment en-
tered for the appellant. STILES, J.
Scott, j.