Magnuson v. Kent County Board of Canvassers

This is an annexation case. It arises under section 9 of the home-rule act. A recent per curiam opinion 2 described the statute as “abstruse.” This descriptive euphemism may well qualify as the understatement of the judicial year. The involved section when first enacted contained 22 printed lines. It set out clearly which electors would vote in the annexation proceedings, authorized and specified when the vote would be counted collectively and when separately. Since the enactment in 1909, the section has acquired “provided howevers” and “provided furthers.” It has been rewritten changing the…