Opinion ID: 1436318
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Candidate Walko's Request to Reopen the Ballot Boxes in the Remaining 34 Election Districts

Text: The court below ruled that because of Walko's failure to comply with the pertinent provisions of the Act he was not entitled to this request. We agree. Section 1701 [2] and Section 1703 [3] permit the recanvassing of the votes in an election district where there has been a petition filed which has been signed and verified by three qualified electors of the election district involved accompanied by a cash deposit or bond and the petition is presented within five days from the completion of the computation and canvassing of all returns of the county by the County Board of Elections. In this instance, the Petition to Open the remaining 34 election district ballot boxes was signed and verified only by the candidate, it was not accompanied by the required security and was not filed until 29 days (December 31, 1973) after the County Board had certified its returns (December 3, 1973). Candidate Walko admits non-compliance with the provisions of §§ 1701 and 1703 and argues that he was entitled to this remedy pursuant to the Act of June 3, 1937, P.L. 1333, art. XIV, § 1407, 25 P.S. § 3157. This section provides in pertinent part: (a) Any person aggrieved by any order or decision of any county board regarding the computation or canvassing of the returns of any primary or election, or regarding any recount or recanvass thereof under sections 1701, 1702 and 1703 of this act, may appeal therefrom within two days after such order or decision shall have been made, whether then reduced to writing or not, to the court of common pleas of the proper county, setting forth why he feels that an injustice has been done, and praying for such order as will give him relief. . . . The only conceivable basis for the Petition filed on December 31, 1973, to be timely under the two-day statutory limit prescribed under § 1407 would be that this Petition was in response to the Recount Boards' [4] returns which were completed and filed on December 28, 1973. [5] We cannot, however, accept that even assuming that Walko was successful in establishing that he was aggrieved by the decision of the Recount Boards as to the recanvass of the ballots cast in the 112 election districts this grievance could be rectified by permitting a belated recount of additional election districts not included in the first recanvass. Clearly, this at best is an ingenious attempt to extend the time to request a recount of the remaining election boxes within the County which we will not permit. Candidate Walko, in the alternative, argues that even if the appeal is deemed to have been untimely filed, he should nevertheless be permitted to proceed by way of an appeal nunc pro tunc. In urging this position, he relies heavily upon this Court's decision in Koch Election Contest Case, 351 Pa. 544, 41 A.2d 657 (1945). We believe this reliance to be misplaced. In Koch, the posted return had shown that the candidate who received the majority of the votes cast had been duly elected. Thereafter, the County Board of Elections negligently computed the returns and returned a majority of the votes for the opposing candidate and, although recognizing their error, failed to correct it. There it was clear that the Board had lulled Koch into a false sense of security and this Court properly observed: . . . the only appropriate remedy by which the negligence of the election board could be corrected was by an appeal nunc pro tunc for a recount under Section 1407, 25 P.S. section 3157. Koch, supra at 550, 41 A.2d at 660. In this case, even though the original returns may have led Walko to believe that he was a winner, it has not been shown that it was a result of a deliberate intention to mislead or of negligence on the part of the County Board. Further, both parties realized their precarious position and did in fact request and were granted the right to open those boxes that they requested to be opened. Had Walko so chose, he could, at that time, have expanded his request to include the 34 districts now involved. He elected not to do so and cannot now offer his disappointment with the result of the recanvass as a basis to modify his original request. Compliance with statutorily imposed time limitations is especially important in election cases. This point was made clear in Turtzo v. Boyer, 370 Pa. 526, 531, 88 A.2d 884, 886 (1952) when this Court said: It is because the lawmakers of the State were aware of the inertia inherent in an unestimated percentage of the population, and the great harm which can be visited upon others because of that inertia, that it categorically established time limits for the various procedures required in the operation of the Pennsylvania Election Code. Unless time limits were set within which to challenge the results of elections, government would permanently sit on a shaky foundation, and the citizenry would never be certain of the identity of the office-holder chosen to direct and operate the complex activities of the State, County and Municipality. Civilization must protect itself from the sluggard, as well as from the evil-doer. The lazy railroad watchman, who fails to lower a safety gate in time, can inflict as much harm on innocent passengers as the bandit who holds up the train.