Oregon Advisory Opinions January 24, 1952: OAG 52-9 (January 24, 1952)

Oregon Attorney General Opinions

1952.

OAG 52-9.

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346

Dear Sir: In your letter of January 17, 1952, you requested our advice as to

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whether certain procedure might be followed in the forthcoming hospital district election contemplated for your county. You state that, since the regular election laws require an election board of five members and the hospital district election laws provide for a six-member board, it has been proposed that the county clerk appoint the regular election board as five-sixths of the hospital district election board and then add a sixth appointee. You also mention that it has been proposed, as an economy measure, that the tally sheets for the hospital district election be made on the "nonpartisan" tally sheets.

We believe that the procedure suggested in your letter for the appointment of the hospital district election board could be followed, the county clerk appointing the general election board as five members of the hospital board and naming an additional qualified person to constitute the six-member board. You have probably already noticed that § 81-202 of the election code provides that the county court shall appoint the regular election board and designate the polling places, whereas § 3, chapter 548, Oregon Laws 1949, provides that the county clerk shall appoint the board and designate the polling places for the hospital district election.

A comparison of the regular election laws with the hospital election laws indicates that it will probably be necessary to have separate election notices, ballots, ballot boxes and tally sheets for each of the two elections. For example, § 81-307, O.C.L.A., provides as follows:

"* * * Only one ballot shall be removed from the ballot box at one time and it must be fully read, counted and tallied before another ballot is removed from the box. The chairman shall take out one ballot and shall immediately read and announce distinctly, while the ballot remains in his hands and while the second judge, not of the same political party as the chairman, and such bystanders as have a right to be present outside the guard-rails overlook the ballot; * * * Then deliver the ballot to the second judge, who shall examine the same and immediately fold it and sign his name upon the outer back of the ballot and number it consecutively, in the order in which it is counted, with pen and ink and string it on a strong string and carefully preserve the same. And the same method shall be pursued in respect to each of the ballots in the ballot box. The ends of the strings upon which the ballots have been strung shall then be securely knotted together, united and sealed under the official signatures and seals of the judges and clerks who counted the said ballots. * * *"

From this it appears that the hospital board, with its additional judge member, could not act as a general election board in counting and tallying the votes for the general election, and that the hospital district board must count the hospital votes, or in other words, each board must count and tally the votes for each respective election separately.

It likewise appears from a comparison of § 81-1801, O.C.L.A., and § 6, chapter 548, Oregon Laws 1949, that the canvass of the election returns is to be made differently. The canvass for the hospital district election is to be made by the county court on the seventh day after the election, and the canvass of the regular election returns is to be made by the county clerk with the assistance of two legal voters on the tenth day after the election, or sooner.

A separate notice calling the special hospital district election and designating the date of the general primary election as the date of the hospital election should be prepared and mailed out by the county clerk. The notice would of course designate the territory proposed to be formed into the hospital district. See § 3, chapter 548, Oregon Laws 1949, and § 81-1402, O.C.L.A., as amended by chapter 50, Oregon Laws 1945.

A separate ballot should also be prepared, and the ballot title set out in the statute should be followed: Section 3, chapter 548, Oregon Laws 1949.

Comparing the election laws governing the general primary election with those contained in chapter 548, Oregon Laws 1949, providing for the special hospital district election, you will observe that they are different statutes and each must be complied with but may be conducted on the same date and that the results must be certified separately to the county clerk. In other words, the ballots should be tallied separately and the results returned and treated in each case as separate elections.