Opinion ID: 2458204
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Public Policy Dictates Against the Court's Strict Interpretation

Text: The Election Code does not contain any provision which prescribes strict construction of the Code. Nor does the Code prohibit simultaneous filing and withdrawal. The majority's narrow interpretation of the applicable Election Code provisions is inappropriate. The law is well established that any constitutional or statutory provision which restricts the right to seek public office should be construed against ineligibility. See Hall v. Baum, 452 S.W.2d 699, 702 (Tex.1970); Willis v. Potts, 377 S.W.2d 622, 623 (Tex.1964). See also Strake v. The Court of Appeals for the First Supreme Judicial District, 29 Tex.Sup.Ct.J. 240, 243, 704 S.W.2d 746 (Gonzalez, J. dissenting). Thus, the applicable Election Code provisions on filing and withdrawal should be construed broadly in favor of eligibility of the candidate. The Texas courts have recognized the underlying theme of our election process. In Gray v. State, 406 S.W.2d 934 (Tex.Civ. App.-Fort Worth 1966, writ dism'd), the court of appeals noted, under the former election code, that one of the primary aims in the enactment of the Election Code of the State of Texas was `that the will of the people shall prevail and the true democracy shall not perish from the Lone Star State'.... Any question arising under the provisions of the code should be decided with due consideration given that objective. Id. at 935. The people's will is thwarted when this court disallows alternative choices for public office by excluding candidates for a particular place on the ballot for reasons wholly unrelated to any legitimate public policy or to their essential qualifications. While the strict compliance doctrine helps ensure the orderly conduct of democratic processes, the asserted strict construction rule as applied in this case undermines our democratic process. Indeed, in Painter, this court cited with approval a Florida decision, Bayne v. Glisson, 300 So.2d 79 (Fla.App.1974), where the court stated: Public policy ... favors affording the people an opportunity to make a choice in the election of their public officials.... The tendency has been and still is, to extend further the privilege of the people to participate in their government ... rather than to curtail such participation by the people. Id. at 82. Participation in government is an important element of our democratic process. The rights of candidates to participate in an election are similar to the constitutional right to vote in elections. In Bullock v. Carter, 405 U.S. 134, 143, 92 S.Ct. 849, 856, 31 L.Ed.2d 92 (1972), the United States Supreme Court recognized that the rights of voters and the rights of candidates do not lend themselves to neat separation; laws that affect candidates always have at least some theoretical, correlative effect on voters. Recently, that court further observed that the impact of candidate eligibility requirements on voters implicates basic constitutional rights. Anderson v. Celebrezze, 460 U.S. 780, 787, 103 S.Ct. 1564, 1569, 75 L.Ed.2d 547 (1983). Although these cases address different issues, the underlying rationale clearly favors a policy of broad constuction to allow voters a choice of candidates. For the above reasons, I would deny Wallace's petition for writ of mandamus.