Case Name: EDGAR v. BOARD OF ELECTION COMMISSIONERS OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY
Court: Michigan Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Michigan
Decision Date: 1898-10-31
Citations: 118 Mich. 418
Docket Number: 
Parties: EDGAR v. BOARD OF ELECTION COMMISSIONERS OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Judges: 
Reporter: Michigan Reports
Volume: 118
Pages: 418–419

Head Matter:
EDGAR v. BOARD OF ELECTION COMMISSIONERS OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Elections — Official Ballot — Party Tickets.
The term “general election,” as used in Act No. 271, Pub. Acts 1895, § 14, requiring the board of election commissioners in each county to place first on the official ballot the ticket of the party having the greatest number of votes within the county “ at the last preceding general election,” must be held to mean the November, and not the April, election, since section 2, subd. 19, 1 How. Stat., requires such construction to be'given to the term, “unless inconsistent with the manifest-intent of the legislature.”
Mandamus by James W. Edgar, chairman, of the Republican county committee of Livingston county, to compel the board of election commissioners of said county to place the Republican party ticket first on the official ballot.
Submitted October 31, 1898.
Writ denied October 31, 1898.
Claude A. Brayton {J. M. C. Smith, amicus curice), for relator.
L. E. Howlett (A. A. Ellis,'of counsel), for respondent.

Opinion:
Per Curiam.
Subdivision 19, § 2, 1 How. Stat., provides that the term "general election" means the election held in November, "unless such construction would be inconsistent with the manifest intent of the legislature." _ There can be no doubt that the election in the spring of 1897 was in- a sense a general election, and that general elections are periodically held, under our statutes, at times other than in the month of November. But that does not lessen the force of the statute quoted, or its application to cases growing out of acts which do not indicate that the term was to be given a different meaning from that pro vided by section 2. What is there in this statute (Act No. 271, Pub. Acts 1895, § 14) to remove the presumption which arises from section 2 ? If nothing, that section must apply. We find nothing in said act to indicate what is meant by the term further than the use of the term, and it must therefore be held to mean "the general election held in November.
The writ is denied, without costs.