Oregon Advisory Opinions June 27, 1968: OAG 68-101 (June 27, 1968)
Collection: Oregon Attorney General Opinions
Docket: OAG 68-101
Date: June 27, 1968
Advisory Opinion Text
OAG 68-101.
Election officials do not have the responsibility to determine what effect an error in ballots would have on the result of an election if such election were challenged in court. Issuance of certificates of election to candidates receiving the highest number of votes in their respective contests is a ministerial matter.
You state that in the recent primary election in Coos County, by error, ballots were issued to one of the precincts which did not include the office of port commissioner thereon, although the voters in such precinct were entitled to vote for candidates for that office. You state further that after 80 ballots were voted this fact was brought to the attention of the county clerk and proper ballots were then issued to the precinct. You state further that the county clerk then contacted the 80 voters who had already cast ballots in such precinct and invited them to return and vote for the position of port commissioner, but that only 20 of them did so. You then ask:
"What effect, if any, will the 60 unvoted ballots for the office of port commissioner have on that particular contest?"
The functions of making a return of votes and issuing certificates of results based thereon, are ministerial and not intended nor authorized to be conditioned upon a determination that an election has been regular and proper in all respects, or that a given candidate has more than prima facie right to his nomination or office.
The legal merits of problems such as the one you propose are discussed in 165 A.L.R. 1263; also in the more recent case of Stawitz v. Nelson, (1961) 188 Kan. 430, 362 P.(2d) 629.
It is our opinion that the election officials in Coos County are not under a responsibility to determine what effect the error in ballots would have if the results of the election were to be challenged in court, and that a certificate of election should be awarded, as a ministerial matter, to all persons receiving the highest number of votes in their respective contests. See our opinion No. 6520, dated June 26, 1968.