Opinion
Submitted March 10, 1931. (Calendar No. 35,650.)
Writ granted March 11, 1931.
Separate petitions for mandamus by A.J. Rogers and Gilbert L. Daane to compel Howard C. Lawrence and James G. Frey, respectively chairman and secretary of the Republican State Central Committee, and Frank D. Fitzgerald, Secretary of State, to certify his name as nominee for an elective office. Submitted March 10, 1931. (Calendar No. 35,650.) Writ granted March 11, 1931, to plaintiff Daane.
Pulver Bush ( Joseph T. Riley, of counsel), for plaintiff Rogers.
Edward N. Barnard and Dunham, Cholette Allaben, for plaintiff Daane.
George E. Nichols, for defendant Lawrence.
Kenneth M. Stevens, for defendant Frey.
Present: BUTZEL, C.J., and WIEST, SHARPE, McDONALD, and FEAD, JJ.
Gilbert L. Daane and A.J. Rogers were rival candidates for nomination as a member of the State board of agriculture at the Republican State convention, held in the city of Kalamazoo, on March 6, 1931. Their names were presented, a ballot taken, and the chairman of the convention announced that Gilbert L. Daane had been nominated.
It is claimed that Mr. Rogers had a majority of the votes cast, and this was discovered after the convention adjourned. We are asked by Mr. Rogers to direct the chairman and secretary of the State central committee to certify his name as the nominee; and we are also asked by Mr. Daane to direct certification of his name as the nominee.
We are of opinion that, in the absence of fraud or oppression or a reconsideration by the convention, we may not recanvass the vote taken, and the announcement of the chairman controls, and the chairman and secretary of the State central committee should certify the nominee announced by the chairman of the convention.