Court Opinion

ID: 9648946
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-23 14:39:13.298118+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:12:06.722830
License: Public Domain

W.H. “Dub” Arnold, Chief Justice, dissenting. I disagree gree with the majority opinion. majority opinion. The provision provision under Arkansas Code Annotated § 14-14-914 (Repl. 1998), authorized by Amendment 7 to the Arkansas Constitution, which addresses the number of signatures required on referendum petitions, is unambiguous; we are, therefore, required to follow it. This Court has recognized the rule of statutory or constitutional construction. In the case of Bishop v. Linkway Stores, Inc., 280 Ark. 106, 644 AS.W.2d 426 (1983), this Court stated: It is well-setded that when a constitutional amendment or a statute is plain an unambiguous, there is no room left for judicial construction, and neither the exigencies of a case, nor a resort to extrinsic facts will be permitted to alter the meaning of the language used in the statute. Id. at 109. The majority acknowledged the Bishop case as the rule where the meaning of an act or constitutional amendment is clear and unambiguous. From the facts in this case, we know that a circuit clerk, David Witty, was elected in the 1996 Primary Election. We also know that a general election followed the 1996 Primary Election and that David Witty was unopposed in his race for Boone County Clerk. The ballots, however, were not counted in the 1996 General Election for the office of circuit clerk. The majority would lead you to believe that a general election did not occur because the ballots were not counted. This is, however, a false premise, as general elections always follow primary elections, even when candidates are unopposed. This is how we elect our county officials in Arkansas. What occurred in this case is very simple; the election officials did not do their job. They failed to place the circuit clerk’s unopposed race on the ballot so that votes cast for that office could be counted for Amendment 7 purposes. Arkansas Code Annotated § 7-5-315 (Repl. 1997) states in pertinent part as follows: In counting ballots at the polling site, the following procedures shall be followed: (1) The votes received by an unopposed candidate in any election held in this state shall not be counted or tabulated by the election officials. The word “UNOPPOSED” shall be sufficient to insert on the tally sheet to indicate that the candidate has received a majority of the votes cast in the election. However, the votes received by an unopposed candidate for the office of major or circuit clerk shall be counted and tabulated by the election officiak[.] (Emphasis added.) Abraham Lincoln reminds us that the government is “of the people, by the people, for the people. ...” A. Lincoln, Selected Speeches and Writings 405 (Vintage Books/Library of America, 1992). In the case before us, over 400 voters filed their petition for a referendum of the county ordinance; however, they are denied this right because of the elections officials’s failure to do their job. The majority would suggest that we excuse this failure and look to other general elections for a tabulation in a circuit clerk’s race. Tabulations in other general elections would not be the same as the tabulation for the last general election; to look to other general elections would suggest that we are changing the rules or the law to assist the government in its failures. This is not democracy in action. If we do this, Lincoln’s statement should be changed to a government of the people, by the people, and for the government. I don’t think so. We cannot deny the people their right. This matter should be reversed and remanded to allow the referendum. Smith, J., joins this dissent.