Rawlings v. Armstrong

Henderson, J., delivered the opinion of the Court. Joseph M. Armstrong, a citizen, resident and taxpayer of Annapolis, and also the chairman of the Republican City Committee for that City, on April 26, 1945, by letter requested the Board of Supervisors of ³¹² Elections for the City of Annapolis to furnish him with a complete, certified copy of the names, addresses, color and ages of the registered voters in the First and Third Wards of Annapolis. The Board refused, and on May 2, 1945, Mr. Armstrong filed a petition for mandamus in the Circuit Court for Anne Arundel County to compel the furnishing of the list. To the petition a demurrer was filed by the Board, which was overruled, after hearing.

The Board then filed an answer to which the petitioner demurred. The Court sustained this demurrer, and ordered the writ to issue. The Board appealed. No procedural question is presented by the issuance of the writ.

Ghinger v. Fanseen, 166 Md. 519 , 172 A. 75 . The sole question is one of statutory construction. It is not disputed that Section 13, Art. 2 (P. jL. Laws), makes the provisions of the public general law applicable to all municipal elections in Annapolis.

The only dispute is as to the meaning of Section 27, Art. 33 of the Code, 1939, reading in part, as follows: “The said Board of Supervisors in the Counties shall furnish to anyone making written application therefor, within ten days after such application has been received, or in less time, if practicable, a certified copy under their hands of the names, addresses, color and ages of all persons registered in any election precinct or district of said county; for the sum of half a cent for each voter’s name on said registry, which said sum shall be applied toward paying the expenses of making said certified copies.” The appellant contends that because this sentence appears in the middle of Section 27, and because this and adjoining sections deal principally with the registry of new and the elimination df removed voters, the language must be restricted to cover only the changes effected by the registration, and not the complete registry. But the