Oregon Advisory Opinions January 21, 1958: OAG 58-8 (January 21, 1958)
Collection: Oregon Attorney General Opinions
Docket: OAG 58-8
Date: Jan. 21, 1958
Advisory Opinion Text
OAG 58-8.
Secretary of State
You have asked the following questions:
"1. Does the law permit the establishment of two precincts with identical geographical boundaries, the voters thereof being differentiated by the first letters of their last names?
"2. If the answer to the first question is in the affirmative, does ORS 248.020 require the election of a precinct committeeman and a precinct committeewoman from each of the two precincts so established?"
You have stated that on occasion it is found that there is no obvious way to divide some areas, such as highly populated city blocks, into precincts geographically, and that it has been the practice of at least one county clerk to divide such areas into two precincts with the same geographical boundaries, a voter being a member of one or the other according to the first letter of his last name.
To arrive at an answer to your first question, it is necessary to examine the provisions of § 20, chapter 608, Oregon Laws 1957:
"(1) Not later than January preceding the primary election the county clerk shall establish as many election precincts within the county as he considers necessary or convenient. No precinct shall contain more than 500 registered electors. The county clerk shall fix the boundaries of the precincts and designate the precincts by numbers or names. No precinct in any city with a population of 2,000 or more, according to the last official federal or state census, shall include territory outside the corporate limits of the city.
"(2) Subject to the limitations set forth in subsection (1) of this section, at any time after the primary election and before the next succeeding regular biennial general election:
"(a) The county clerk shall make such changes in the boundaries of election precincts as are necessary to reflect changes occurring during such period in the corporate limits of any city with a population of 2,000 or more after any change in corporate limits.
"(b) The county clerk may make such other changes in the boundaries of election precincts as he considers necessary or convenient." (Emphasis supplied)
The answer to your questions is to be found in the meaning that the legislature gave to the words "election precinct." Webster's New International Dictionary, 2d ed., defines a precinct as "A district within certain boundaries, especially one set out for governmental purposes; * * *" Thus, an election precinct may be called an election district. In fact, the laws of the several states are divided in their terminology of their divisions for election purposes. Some state codes use the term "voting" or "election districts," while others, in describing and providing for the same thing, adopt the title "election" or "voting precinct." Some states have election districts which in turn are divided into precincts. But certainly, the election precincts provided for in the Oregon code may be described as, and in fact are, election districts.
Turning again to Webster's New International Dictionary, it is found that the word "district" is defined as "a division of territory; a defined portion of a state, county, country, town, or city, etc. made for administrative, electoral, or other purposes; * * * any portion of territory; region, tract." In Ballentine's Law Dictionary, "precinct" is declared to be "an election district" and an "election district" is defined as "A subdivision of the territory of a state, marked out by known boundaries, prearranged and declared by public authority. See Chase v. Miller, 41 Pa. St. 403, 420." See also 33 Words and Phrases 252.
These cases and many more declare an election precinct or district to be a subdivision of territory. From the language of the statutes set forth above, it seems clear that the Oregon legislature in directing the county clerks to establish election precincts also contemplated territorial divisions, and such territorial divisions must be distinguished from divisions of people into groups or units. The purpose of the statute is to segregate electors into relatively small voting groups. The method prescribed to accomplish such segregation is the formation of territorial districts. An election precinct, then, is a portion of a certain land area which is enclosed within given territorial boundaries. By the very nature of an election district, only one can occupy any given area at one time. Any distinct area alloted to one district or precinct cannot be included in another.
If one attempts to divide a precinct by separating the voters therein into two units according to the spelling of their last names, the result is not to divide the precinct, but rather to divide the voters of one precinct into two groups. There is no authority in the law for doing this.
It is my opinion that your first question must be answered in the negative, and, in view of that conclusion it is unnecessary to discuss the second question.