Case Name: TOWN OF INDIAN RIVER SHORES, etc., et al., Petitioners, v. Rosemary RICHEY, etc., Respondents
Court: Florida Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1977-06-30
Citations: 348 So. 2d 1
Docket Number: No. 50307
Parties: TOWN OF INDIAN RIVER SHORES, etc., et al., Petitioners, v. Rosemary RICHEY, etc., Respondents.
Judges: OVERTON, C. J., and SUNDBERG and HATCHETT, JJ., concur.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 348
Pages: 1–3

Head Matter:
TOWN OF INDIAN RIVER SHORES, etc., et al., Petitioners, v. Rosemary RICHEY, etc., Respondents.
No. 50307.
Supreme Court of Florida.
June 30, 1977.
Gordon B. Johnston, Sharp & Johnston, and James T. Vocelle and Fred T. Gallagher, Vocell, Gallagher & Block, Vero Beach, for petitioners.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., and William C. Sherrill and Mary Jo Carpenter, Asst. Attys. Gen., for respondents.

Opinion:
BOYD, Justice.
Chapter 29163,- Laws of Florida (1953) is the City Charter of the Town of Indian River Shores. Article VI of the Charter governs elections. Section 2 of the Article provides that qualified municipal electors shall be town residents or those who have owned real estate in the Town for at least six months at the time of municipal elections. There is no qualification requirement that the landowners be residents. Section 1 of the Article provides for regis tration of municipal electors in the municipal registration book. The use of the Charter registration system was discontinued after Chapter 73 — 155, Laws of Florida, was enacted to amend Section 98.041, Florida Statutes. Chapter 73-155, a general law with State-wide effect, provided for a permanent single system of voter registration for all elections, including municipal elections, and for registration by the County Supervisor of Elections or precinct registration officers.
The Town filed suit against the County Supervisor of Elections for a declaratory decree that anyone meeting the Charter election qualifications, residency or ownership of Town land, may register as a municipal elector. The trial judge entered an order of final judgment finding Article VI, Section 2 of the Charter, as a Special Act, to be unaffected by Chapter 73-155 and directed registration of Town landowners who seek to register.
The final judgment was reversed by the District Court of Appeal, Fourth District, 337 So.2d 410 (Fla.4th DCA 1975), and the court certified the following question to be a matter of great public interest:
Does Section 1 of Chapter 73-155, Laws of Florida, 1973, implicitly repeal Article VI, § 2, of Chapter 29163, Laws of Florida 1953, so that only residents of a municipality may vote in a municipal election?
As the District Court points out, repeal of a statute by implication is not favored and will be upheld only where irreconcilable conflict between the later statute and earlier statute shows legislative intent to repeal. For the reasons given in the District Court opinion, irreconcilable conflict between Chapter 73-155 and the Charter provision governing municipal elector qualifications is present. The Legislature intended for the general law to repeal the Charter provision. Only residents may register to vote.
It is so ordered.
OVERTON, C. J., and SUNDBERG and HATCHETT, JJ., concur.
DREW (Retired), J., dissents with an opinion.
Art. V, § 3(b)(3), Fla.Const., gives us jurisdiction.