Bisbee daily review., 1911-09-28
DOUBT RE|GNS
 ON ELECTION
Validity of Choice of Peace Justices and Precinct 0f- fiCerS Is Brought into
 Question
WHOLE AFFAIR MIDDLE

Shall the people of Arizona vote for justices of peace and consta- hes at the coming election and if So will such candidates as are chosen be valid ofhcers under the new state government is a question thz is agi. tating would-be candidates for those offices and their friends and interest. ing the voters generally. The gov ernor has issued a proclamation that does rrh include precinct offices among those to be filled and holds that the law does not provide for such elections, but. on the other hand. Attorney General John B. Wright claims that the voters should choose these officers as well as state and county officers, even under the call which the governor has issued. And so these territorial officials diff fer and the public is also divided upon the question. Some urge that since justices of the peace and coustables, in case of vacancies, are filed by the board of supervisors they are county officers while others maintain that they are not governed by any provisions of the laws under whien the elections are to be held Govern. or Sloan, in a letter to the board of supervisors of Graham county says that the board should not include precinct offices in their election call and 1t is said that he has written similar letters to the other boards.
 In order to determine the status of the present muddied situation a rep resentative of The Review yesterday called upon four we'll known Bisbee attorneys 10 interview them on the subject. selecting four who are not candidates for any office. These were F. F. Ellinwood. .. s. Attorney J. F. Morrison, W. E. Cleary and Assist ant District Attorney E. J. Flauigan, two democrats and two republicans On one point they were all agreed and that one point was that the mat ter was a complicated one and re uuired more than an oG hand investi- gation to be finally decided. There were other points of law on which they also agreed but their expressions were far from unanimous.
 F. F. Ellinwood, when seen by The Review representative said that he had not investigated the matter fully and was unwilling to give an opinion as 10 whether such an election should be he'd or not He had been asked by Renwick White relative to the ap- uointment of peace otfcefs at San simon and had declined to give an opinion.
 This much Mir. Eljinwcod was will inc to say: If an election is held and the officers elected to take office such acts as they may perform will Ec valid since they will be officers de fact9 whether CT not they are or fcers de jure. If such officers are elected and present ineumbents re- fuse to turH over the offices tQ the newly elected officers then the iat. ter can have the matter settled by the courts in quo waranto proceed. fnas. Continuing MT Ellinwood said that the board of supervisors in is suing their call should be governed by the sdYice of the district attorney and he by such advice as he received from the attorney general.
 Next Assistant District Attorney F. J. Fianigan was seen. He said that since the governor and the ai- torney general differed he had ad- yised those prospective candidates who had seen him 10 follow the law but had not advised them upon what that law Wss. The law appeared to be silent on the matter.
 ". B. Clsary gives as his opinion that the law does not cover an cleo