Opinion

State ex rel. Hawkins v. Cuyahoga County Board of Elections

  • 28 Ohio St. 2d 4
  • 57 Ohio Op. 2d 63
  • 274 N.E.2d 563
  • 1971 Ohio LEXIS 425
Court
Ohio Supreme Court
Filed
Oct 6, 1971
Status
Published
On the bench
Corrigan, Duncan, Herbert, Leach, Neill, Schneider, Stern
Cited by
6 cases
Authority
More cited than 81.2%

Superseded by statute, as recognized in State ex rel. Rust v. Lucas County Board of Elections

Later courts went against this

  • Superseded by statute, as recognized in State ex rel. Rust v. Lucas County Board of Elections

    28 Ohio St.2d 4, 6 , 274 N.E.2d 563 (1971), superseded by statute on other grounds, State ex rel. Rust v. Lucas Cty. Bd. of Elections, 101 Ohio St.3d 63
    Ohio Supreme CourtJan 14, 2004by statuteother groundsmedium confidenceRead it

The opinion

Per Curiam.

R. C. 3513.261 states, in pertinent part: “A nominating petition may consist of one or more separate petition papers * * *. If the petition consists of more than one separate petition paper, the statement of candidacy of the candidate named need be signed by the candidate and his affidavit thereto need be subscribed by him and executed on only one of such separate petition papers, but the statement of candidacy so signed, subscribed, and executed, shall be copied on each other separate petition paper before the signatures of electors are placed thereon.” (Emphasis added.)

Relator contends that he has substantially complied with R. C. 3513.261, and therefore has a right to the relief sought. He relies particularly on State, ex rel. Kroeger, v. Leonard (1949), 151 Ohio St. 197 , and Stern v. Board of Elections (1968), 14 Ohio St. 2d 175 , both of which discuss substantial compliance. Kroeger, however, affirmed the Court of Appeals which had denied a writ of mandamus because the circulator’s oath did not indicate his membership in a political party, noting that the board of elections did not violate “a plain legal duty by refusing the petitions.” In Stern , relator sought removal of names from the ballot by injunction because of a defective jurat. There, the board had approved the petitions, and, further, this court was not faced with the “plain legal duty” requirements of mandamus.

Respondent relies essentially on State, ex rel. Ferguson, v. Brown (1962), 173 Ohio St. 317 , which we feel is dispositive of the case at bar. At page 319, the court stated:

“* * * such declaration may be an original one at the *6 head of each petition paper circulated, signed by the candidate individually * * * or there may be a single complete original declaration with identical copies thereof heading all other separate nominating petition papers * * V’ (Emphasis added.)

Since relator failed to timely file his petition containing at least one originally signed and notarized statement of candidacy, as the statute requires, respondent is not under a clear legal duty to place his name on the ballot.

The respondent’s motion to dismiss is sustained and the writ is denied.

Writ denied.

O’Neill, C. J., Herbert, Corrigan and Leach, JJ., concur.

Schneider, Duncan and Stern, JJ., dissent.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

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