Ex parte Bush

SIMPSON, Justice.

These are petitions for mandamus by Bush, Ross, and Ward to require the respondent Circuit Judge to transfer their respective criminal cases from the Circuit Court docket to the Inferior Court of Geneva County. The petitioners are indicted for the violation of certain election laws of the State, and it is conceded that the indictments against the petitioners charge misdemeanors. Since the petitions involve the same legal question, we have consolidated the cases and will prepare this one opinion.

The single question is whether the respondent Circuit Judge is under the mandatory…