Board of Supervisors of Elections v. Murphy

Horney, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. When the Board of Supervisors of Elections of Baltimore City prepared the official ballot to be used in the sixth legislative district of the city for the election of seven delegates to the forthcoming Constitutional Convention by arranging the names of the thirty candidates in two vertical columns of eight names each and two vertical columns of seven names each, Madeline W. Murphy, one of the candidates, asserting that the board should have arranged the names of the candidates across the ballot “on one line” or horizontal row, filed a petition for a writ of mandamus to compel the board to adopt the arrangement she advocated. Judge Edwin J. Wolf, in an opinion and order filed May 12, 1967, directed the board to arrange the official ballot to provide for one “horizontal” line with thirty names on it, and the board entered an appeal to this Court. Arguments were heard on May 29, 1967 and on the following day we filed a per curiam order affirming the lower court.

We state below the reasons for doing so. The parties stipulated that two different types of voting ma ³³⁹ chines are used in the State of Maryland. Baltimore City and the larger counties use the “Automatic” machine which has nine horizontal rows and from forty to fifty vertical columns. The smaller counties use the “Shoup” machine having forty horizontal rows and nine vertical columns.

On appeal, the board, relying on the decision in Resnick v. Board of Elections, 244 Md. 55 , 222 A. 2d 385 (1966), 1 contends, as it did below, that the considerations controlling the form and arrangement of the ballot are that the names of the candidates should be placed in one column if possible, that a second column may not be used until the first vertical column has been completely filled by the names of candidates and that when more than one column is used each vertical column must contain an equal number of names if possible. On the other hand, the candidate, claiming that Resmck is distinguishable in that it does not compel the use of vertical columns exclusively, contends that in this instance the only feasible and permissible arrangement, since the ballot is limited to the candidacies of delegates to the constitutional convention and no party designations are involved, would be to place the names from left to right in a single “column” of thirty spaces. We agree that a horizontal rather than a vertical listing of candidates is proper under the singular circumstances of this case. The decision of the lower court, besides being consistent with the election statutes and the rulings of the Attorney General, is not contrary to the holding in Resnick v. Board of Elections, supra.

The applicable provision of Article 33 (Elections) under the subheading “Ballots” provides: “§ 94. Form and arrangement. (c) Columnar listing. — All candidates for office shall as far as possible be placed on one column; but when the names to be printed upon the ticket are over thirty-six, another column may be added in which names shall be printed. When two or more columns are used ³⁴⁰ the same number of names, so far as possible, shall be printed in each column.

The initial letters of the given or Christian names of the several candidates in each column shall be printed directly beneath each other in a vertical line, and the initial letter of the respective party designations of said several candidates shall be printed directly beneath each other in a vertical line.” Those under the subheading “Voting Machines” provide: “§ 122. Ballot labels. (a) Requirements. — The form and arrangement of ballot labels shall be in accordance with the provisions as to ballots contained in § 94 of this article except that: (d) Titles of offices. — The titles of offices may be arranged horizontally or vertically, with