Title: Anderson v. Kilmer
Citation: 302 P.2d 185
Docket Number: 18099
State: Colorado
Issuer: Colorado Supreme Court
Date: October 8, 1956

302 P.2d 185 (1956) Albin ANDERSON, Jr., Plaintiff in Error, v. Vance O. KILMER, George J. Baker, Secretary of State, and Annie M. Dunston, O. A. Ehrgott, E. W. Hubert, Charles C. Carriere, Eva K. Moule, Jean M. Vickers and Ethel A. Sisson, County Clerks of Mesa, Delta, Montrose, San Miguel, Ouray, Hinsdale and Gunnison Counties, Respectively, Defendants in Error. No. 18099. Supreme Court of Colorado. En Banc. October 8, 1956. Albin Anderson, Jr., pro se. Vance O. Kilmer, pro se. Fairlamb, Fairlamb &amp; Calhoun, Delta, for defendants in error. MOORE, Justice. Vance O. Kilmer petitioned the district court for an order requiring election officials to delete from the primary election ballot the name of Albin Anderson, Jr., *186 plaintiff in error, as a designated candidate on the Republican ticket for the nomination of that party for office of District Attorney for the Seventh Judicial District. The trial court entered judgment in favor of petitioner and ordered that the name of plaintiff in error be stricken from the ballots, as prayed for. Plaintiff in error brings the cause to this Court by writ of error for review of that judgment. As grounds for reversal plaintiff in error argues: (1) That the district court erred in taking jurisdiction over the subject matter of the petition; (2) that the trial court erred in construing the statute which requires that a person shall be affiliated for one year with the party in which he seeks to become a candidate for public office; (3) that the trial court disposed of the petition on the theory that it was covered by C.R.S.1953, 49-4-28 instead of 49-4-46 and by reason thereof error was committed to the prejudice of plaintiff in error; (4) that the district court erred in ordering that the name of plaintiff in error be stricken from the ballots "by blocking out, by printing, or by striking out with a colored pencil," as being in violation of that portion of C.R.S.1953, 49-4-10 which reads: "There shall be no other printing or distinguishing marks on the ballot except as in this article specifically provided"; and (5) that the trial court erred in disenfranchising voters casting absentee ballots. At the time of the trial court order about seventy-five absentee ballots had been mailed out from counties within the district. The trial court ordered the county clerks, "not to certify any votes cast by absentee ballots in said primary election for the said Albin Anderson, Jr." The order and judgment of the trial court included the following: C.R.S.1953, 49-4-4, provides in part: The primary election was held September 11, 1956, and plaintiff in error was first registered as a Republican in the books of the county clerk and recorder of Mesa county on April 29, 1956. He argues that he had been affiliated with the Republican party for more than one year prior to September 11, 1956, and that because of this association with the party he was eligible for designation as a candidate, notwithstanding the fact that he was not shown as a Republican voter by registration until five months prior to the date of the primary election. He further contends that we should construe the word "nor" to mean "or" in that portion of the statute which reads: "Nor unless such affiliation shall have been shown by the registration books * * *." We find no merit in this argument. *187 Provisions of C.R.S.1953, 49-4-28 pertinent to other points urged by plaintiff in error are as follows: The contention of plaintiff in error is that the above section is not applicable and that procedures should have been conducted under C.R.S.1953, 49-4-46, which reads in part: All the procedures prescribed by this section of the statute deal with contests arising subsequent to the holding of a primary election, and are not applicable to controversies over the right to appear on the ballot as a designee of a political party for nomination as the candidate of that party for any particular office. The section of the statute last quoted contains the following statement: Plaintiff in error contends that the foregoing language deprived the district court of jurisdiction in the instant case. We cannot agree with this contention. It affirmatively appears from other language in the statute that the jurisdiction of the supreme court in original proceedings was not intended to exclude the jurisdiction of the trial court to determine the controversy. We have given careful consideration to all the points argued by plaintiff in error, and we hold: (1) That the district court did not err in taking jurisdiction of the subject matter of the petition; (2) that the trial court did not err in construing the statute which requires registration of a person on the books of the county clerk and recorder as a member of a particular political party as a condition of eligibility for designation as a candidate of that party for public office; (3) that the trial court did not err in treating the issues within the coverage of C.R.S. 1953, 49-4-28; and (4) that no error was committed by the order of the trial court directing that the name of plaintiff in error be eliminated from the ballot by the best means available. No good purpose would be served in causing the expense of reprinting the whole ballot in order to eliminate the name of a candidate who was unqualified to appear thereon, and the trial court did the only thing that could reasonably be done under those circumstances. No error was committed by the trial court in directing the county clerk not to certify absentee ballots cast for plaintiff in error. Accordingly the judgment is affirmed. SPARKS, J., not participating.