The Polls Closed an Hour Early, and the Court Threw the Election Out
A Jefferson County school-clerk contest reaches the state Supreme Court, where a statute's silence and a 7 p.m. closing time decide who holds office.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The case of Judge Sachs was in hearing before the supreme court today.
Under the law of 1890 the election of school directors and clerks was to occur on the first Saturday in November, to serve for one year. The law of 1891 changed the time to the first Saturday in September and provided that the officers should qualify within ten days, but said nothing as to the time when their term should commence. In Jefferson county the court held that if the clerk was elected in 1890 his term did not expire until November 1891, and that the clerk elected in September 1891 was an intruder, and ousted him. The court also decided that the election in 1891 was invalid because the polls were closed at 7 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. as the law provides.
The defendant appeals, asking the court to fix bonds to stay the proceedings pending an appeal. This the court declined to do, and an appeal was taken for a writ of mandate to compel the court below to fix bonds to stay the proceedings. The superior court issued an alternative writ, and this, today, was a hearing to show why a peremptory writ should not issue. Hays and Tyler, of Port Townsend, appeared for Judge Sachs, and Johnson and Moody for the appellant.
The case of Parker vs. McGraw, from King county, was argued. Plaintiff recovered judgment. More than a year after judgment was obtained, McGraw moved to vacate it, and a motion was granted. Now plaintiff is endeavoring to obtain a writ of certiorari for the purpose of reviewing the action of the court. Attorneys Austin and Gearin appear for the plaintiff, and Col. Carr for the defendant.
“The court also decided that the election in 1891 was invalid because the polls were closed at 7 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. as the law provides.”
A legislature quietly moves an election date, says nothing about when terms begin, and a whole officeholder's legitimacy collapses — that is a story about statutory drafting as much as politics. Washington still litigates school-board and municipal election results, and the margin is often some procedural detail nobody thought to write down, whether a filing deadline or a ballot-drop box closing time.
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