Oregon Advisory Opinions August 24, 1959: OAG 59-107 (August 24, 1959)
Collection: Oregon Attorney General Opinions
Docket: OAG 59-107
Date: Aug. 24, 1959
Advisory Opinion Text
OAG 59-107.
Secretary of State
You have asked our opinion as to the authority of the Registrar of Elections of Multnomah County to make available to the Oregon Tuberculosis and Health
Association the list of registered voters provided for in ORS 247.520. The list is intended to be used for the distribution of "TB stamps."
The registrar of elections is a county officer existing only in counties with a population of more than 300,000. He performs all the functions of the county clerk in connection with the administering of the election laws: ORS 246.300.
ORS 247.520 (1), in so far as applicable to your problem, is as follows:
"Each county clerk, upon receiving a request therefor, shall make available for use by any candidate for public office, political party, political ORGAnization or nonprofit public service ORGAnization a list of registered electors of the county and their addresses for the purpose of preparing therefrom lists of registered electors to be used for political purposes. * * *" (Emphasis supplied)
In Franklin v. State Industrial Accident Commission, 202 Or. 237, 241, it is said:
"It is elementary that when the legislature, in enacting a law, makes use of plain, unambiguous, and understandable language, it is presumed to have intended precisely what its words imply. There is no occasion to go beyond those words and their plain meaning to ascertain by application of rules of statutory construction the legislative purpose."
As emphasized above the county clerk is limited by the statute as to the uses to which the list of registered voters may be devoted, that is, "political purposes."
"The words 'political purposes' are all inclusive in defining activities involving the body politic in control of the function of government by the people. There are no other words that can be substituted to completely describe this function of our social, or our public activities. These words are not restricted in their use to elections of public officers supported by ORGAnized political parties or otherwise. Every activity encompassing the deciding of issues or adopting of propositions as a part of the democratic process by a vote of the people is in furtherance of and accomplishes a 'political purpose' and in the use of these words, such purpose must have been so intended by the legislature." State ex rel. Corrigan v. Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co., 152 N.E. (2d) 1, 5.
A public record is one made by a public officer in pursuance of a duty, the immediate purpose of which is to disseminate information to the public or to serve as a memorial of official transactions for public reference. State v. Brantley, 201 Or. 637, 646. The public must always have access to all public records required to be kept or made by a public official unless the statute specifically provides otherwise. State v. Keller, 143 Or. 589.
It should be noted that the registration list available under ORS 247.520 to a limited class of users for a specific purpose is not to be confused with the "register of electors." The "register of electors" consists of the official registration cards kept on file in the county clerk's office, and these are available for public inspection: ORS 247.171.
It is clear from a reading of ORS 247.520 that the legislature did not intend the list to be an additional public record or be substituted for the official registration cards filed pursuant to ORS 247.171. It is evident from the language of the statute that such registration list was to be made available only for the purposes designated.
Our Supreme Court in Scott v. Ford, 52 Or. 288, 296, in applying a familiar rule of construction that the expression of one thing excludes another, said:
"* * * 'whenever a statute limits a thing to be done in a particular form, it necessarily includes in itself a negative, viz., that the thing shall not be done otherwise."
It is accordingly my opinion that a registrar of elections or a county clerk is not authorized under ORS 247.520 (1) to make available the registration list for the purposes desired.