Title: Evan W. Smith v. Billie C. Burkhalter et al.
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: 1080202
State: Alabama
Issuer: Alabama Supreme Court
Date: August 28, 2009

REL:08/28/2009
Notice: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the advance
sheets of Southern Reporter.  Readers are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions,
Alabama Appellate Courts, 300 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery, Alabama 36104-3741 ((334) 229-
0649), of any typographical or other errors, in order that corrections may be made before
the opinion is printed in Southern Reporter.
SUPREME COURT OF ALABAMA
SPECIAL TERM, 2009
____________________
1080202
____________________
Evan W. Smith
v.
Billie C. Burkhalter et al.
Appeal from Cherokee Circuit Court
(CV-08-111)
On Application for Rehearing
BOLIN, Justice.
On May 15, 2009, this Court dismissed Evan W. Smith's
appeal of an election contest on the basis that the circuit
court was without jurisdiction to enter a judgment.  On
application for rehearing, candidates Jimmy Wallace, Billie C.
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2
Burkhalter, and Lenora McWhorter ask this Court to clarify its
holding that the circuit court did not have jurisdiction to
entertain an election contest from a municipal general
election in a multi-candidate field when no candidate received
a majority of the votes.  Specifically, they ask us to clarify
whether that portion of the circuit court's judgment declaring
McWhorter to be the duly elected council person for district
two is also void.  
On September 2, 2008, the Town of Cedar Bluff certified
the election results and concluded that a runoff election was
necessary between Steve Lay and Ethel Sprouse for the mayoral
race and between Burkhalter and Smith for the district-one
council position and that Donald Sanders was elected to the
district-two council position.  After a contest challenging
absentee ballots, the circuit court declared Burkhalter the
winner of the district-one position and McWhorter the winner
of the district-two position and held that there should be a
runoff election in the mayor's race between Wallace and
Sprouse. Smith appealed, and this Court held that the circuit
court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction to entertain an
election contest from a municipal general election in a multi-
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3
candidate field when no candidate secured a majority of the
votes cast because § 11-46-69, Ala. Code 1975, provides that
only the election of a person "declared elected" to a
municipal office may be contested.  
In the district-two council position, the Town of Cedar
Bluff declared Sanders as the winner.  In other words, Sanders
was "declared elected" in accordance with § 11-46-69;
therefore, the circuit court had subject-matter jurisdiction
to entertain a contest challenging the election to the
district-two council position.   After the contest, the
circuit court declared McWhorter the winner of the district-
two race.  Sanders did not appeal.  Accordingly, the circuit
court's judgment declaring McWhorter the winner of the
district-two council position stands. 
APPLICATION OVERRULED.
Cobb, C.J., and Lyons, Woodall, Stuart, Smith, Parker,
Murdock, and Shaw, JJ., concur.