Oregon Advisory Opinions January 15, 1963: OAG 63-6 (January 15, 1963)
Collection: Oregon Attorney General Opinions
Docket: OAG 63-6
Date: Jan. 15, 1963
Advisory Opinion Text
OAG 63-6.
You request an opinion as to whether, in the case of a regular municipal election for officers which must be conducted at the same time and with the same election precincts and officers as the general biennial election for state officers under Article II, § 14a, Oregon Constitution, there must be a sharing of election expenses between the city and the county.
Article II, § 14a, adopted in 1917, provides as follows:
"Incorporated cities and towns shall hold their nominating and regular elections for their several elective officers at the same time that the primary and general biennial elections for State and county officers are held, and the election precincts and officers shall be the same for all elections held at the same time. All provisions of the charters and ordinances of incorporated cities and towns pertaining to the holding of elections shall continue in full force and effect except so far as they relate to the time of holding such elections. * * * The Legislature, and cities and towns, shall enact such supplementary legislation as may be necessary to carry the provisions of this amendment into effect."
Notwithstanding the initiative and referendum powers of cities, this amendment withdrew from cities the right to select the time of their regular elections and required them to hold their elections at the time designated in the amendment. State ex rel. v. Kellaher,
(1919) 90 Or. 538, 177 P. 944; State ex rel. Stone v. Andresen, (1924) 110 Or. 1, 222 P. 585; Henderson v. City of Salem, (1931) 137 Or. 541, 1 P. (2d) 128, 4 P. (2d) 321.
Article II, § 14a, was implemented by chapter 283, Oregon Laws 1919. This Act made substantial changes in the election code which now appear in the Oregon Revised Statutes. ORS 250.230 (§ 36 of the 1919 Act) requires that the "election boards for state and county elections shall be the election boards for the city elections" and that "As far as practicable, the ballots used for state and county elections, * * * shall be arranged to include the names of city officers and measures to be voted upon at city elections." The 1919 Act conferred no authority upon county officials to require that the election expenses be borne by a city.
Except for the special provisions of ORS chapter 258 governing voting machines, the costs of regular elections have generally remained the responsibility of the county. The county clerk "may employ such personnel and procure such equipment, supplies, materials, books, papers, records and facilities of every kind as he considers necessary * * * in connection with administering the election laws. * * * The necessary expenses * * * shall be allowed by the county court and paid out of the county treasury." ORS 246.250 (1), (2). He must print and provide the ballots and the ballot boxes. ORS 250.080, 250.190. The election board clerks are paid by the county. ORS 246.330 and 249.440.
By chapter 152, § 1, Oregon Laws 1941, a city was authorized to provide for a separate ballot at a regular municipal election. The 1941 enactment in its present form, ORS 221.170, provides in part as follows:
"(1) Every city may provide by its charter for nominating and electing candidates for its municipal offices on a ballot separate and distinct from the state and county ballot at the biennial primary and general elections and require that such city ballots shall be received by the election board clerks and deposited in a separate ballot box to be marked 'city ballots.' The separate ballot boxes shall be provided by the county clerk and delivered and returned to the county clerk as other election supplies are delivered and returned. In every case the city providing for separate city ballot and ballot boxes shall reimburse the county for the cost and expense thereof. " (Emphasis supplied)
This statute, therefore, specifically requires the city to reimburse the county for the expense involved where a city chooses to employ separate ballots and ballot boxes.
Accordingly, it is our opinion that, where there is a separate ballot and ballot box for a city election, the city must reimburse the county for this cost and expense but there is no authority for a sharing of election expenses between the city and the county otherwise.