Opinion ID: 1698823
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure of Canvassers to Verify Their Certification by Affidavit.

Text: Sub. (5) (e) of sec. 66.021, Stats. 1957, provides: Canvass; statement to be filed. The election inspectors shall make a statement of the holding of the election showing the whole number of votes cast, and the number cast for and against annexation, attach thereto their affidavit and immediately file it in the office of the town clerk. They shall file a certified statement of the results in the office of the clerk of each other municipality affected. The election inspectors who constituted the board of canvassers complied with the above-specified requirements in all respects except that the statement of the election result had no affidavit attached thereto. It will be noted that the statute requires that the affidavit be attached to the statement filed with the town clerk alone and not to the certified statement filed with the city clerk. The statutes fail to say what the missing affidavit must recite. The election inspectors would have complied with the statute in our opinion had they merely attached an affidavit to the statement of election result which verified the truth of that statement. Defendant city contends that the absence of the affidavit renders the election-contest procedure of sec. 6.66, Stats., inapplicable and that, therefore, the circuit court properly admitted evidence going behind the result certified by the election inspectors. We deem it significant that the right given to electors under sec. 6.66 (3) to contest the result of the referendum election is not made dependent upon the board of canvassers' filing their statement of the election result with the town clerk. On the contrary the three-day period allotted for instituting the contest commences to run from the last meeting of the ... town . . . board of canvassers. [2] The referendum election was held on September 15, 1959, and the certified statements of the result, which were filed with the town clerk and city clerk the following day, also bear date of September 15, 1959. Thus the date of last meeting of the canvassers occurred on September 15, 1959, and any elector of the territory who had voted in the election could have instituted a contest within the ensuing three-day period. Moreover, the omitted act, involving the executing of the affidavit and attaching of same to the statement filed with the town clerk, was a ministerial act which any interested elector might have compelled by mandamus. Since we have determined that sec. 6.66, Stats. 1957, provided the exclusive method of challenging the election result and since the time for use of this remedy expired even before the city council adopted the annexation ordinance in question, defendant city cannot assert in this litigation that the canvassers' failure to file the affidavit vitiated the certified statement of the canvassers which was filed with the city clerk. Because the statute did not require that such an affidavit be attached to this certified statement to be filed with the city clerk and because the city council had to rely on this certified statement alone in determining whether a majority of the electors voting in the referendum election voted in favor of annexation, we are inclined to think its introduction in evidence was conclusive on the issue of the election result. In any event, since the purpose of attaching the affidavit to the statement filed with the town clerk is only to verify the truth of the certified result of the election, the further evidence admitted by the trial court should have been restricted to verifying the count of the ballots cast. It is undisputed that the canvassers correctly reported that 19 votes had been cast in favor of annexation and 19 against. By the Court. Judgment reversed, and cause remanded with directions to enter judgment as prayed for in plaintiffs' complaint. WILKIE, J., took no part. The following opinion was filed January 10, 1963: