STATE ex rel. DAVIS v. HUGGINS

STATE ex rel. DAVIS v. HUGGINS
1924 OK 972
230 P. 716
107 Okla. 80
Case Number: 15867
Decided: 10/27/1924
Supreme Court of Oklahoma

STATE ex rel. DAVIS
v.
HUGGINS.

Syllabus

¶0 1. Elections--Qualifications of Voters--Six Months' Residence in County.
Under and by virtue of section 1. art. 3, of the Constitution a qualified elector must reside in the county six months next preceding the election in which said party offers to vote.
2. Same--Effect of Annexing New Territory to County.
Where electors otherwise qualified reside in a county, and such electors at an election for that purpose vote to detach said territory from the county of which they form a part, and to be annexed to another county, and the county to which they seek to be annexed votes in favor of annexation of said territory to their county, and the Governor issues a proclamation detaching the territory from the old county and annexing same to the new county, held said electors are not qualified to vote in the primary or general election in the county to which they are annexed, until they have resided therein for a period of six months.

Stevens & Cline, for plaintiff in error.
Snyder, Owen & Lybrand, Wilson & Roe, and J. R. Huggins, for defendant in error.

McNEILL, J.

¶1 This action was commenced by Herman S. Davis against J. R. Huggins to contest the nomination of J. R. Huggins for county attorney in Tillman county. The case presents two questions only one of which is necessary to consider; the right of residents of a certain strip of land to participate in the primary election held on August 4, 1924. The facts regarding the qualifications of these electors were conceded to be as follows:

That said electors resided on a strip of land which had for many years been a part of Kiowa county. On the 4th day of June, 1924, an election was held in said territory wherein over 60 per cent. of the people voted to detach said territory from Kiowa county and annex the same to Tillman county. On July, 19, 1924, an election was held in Tillman county for the purpose of submitting the question whether the territory should be annexed to Tillman county. The election carried in favor of annexation. The result of the election was certified to the State Election Board on the 22nd day of July, 1924, and on said date the Governor issued his proclamation detaching said territory from Kiowa county and annexing the same to Tillman county.

¶2 This territory was organized in a separate election precinct known as Hunter precinct No. 4. It is contended the voters in said precinct were not qualified voters, for the reason they had not been residents of Tillman county for six months prior to the date of the election as required by the Constitution of the state of Oklahoma. According to the allegations of the petition, if the parties in Hunter precinct No. 4, were entitled to vote in the election Huggins was nominated; if they were disqualified, by reason of not being residents of the county for six months, and the ballots in that precinct are eliminated, Davis was nominated. The trial court sustained a demurrer to the petition.

¶3 Section 1, article 3 of the Constitution provides:

"The qualified electors of the state shall be male citizens of the United States, male citizens of the state, and male persons of Indian descent native of the United States, who are over the age of 21 years, who have resided in the state one year in the county six months, and in the election precinct 30 days, next preceding the election at which any such elector offers to vote * * *"