People Ex Rel. Lyons v. McAleer

County of Los Angeles—Registrar of Voters—Unauthorized Transfer of Deputy County Clerk—Failure of Civil Service Commission to Prescribe Rules.—Under the charter of the county of Los Angeles, which went into effect on June 2, 1913, the civil service commission of the city of Los Angeles is without jurisdiction to transfer a deputy county clerk to the office of registrar of voters, where the commission had not, as required by section 34, article IX, of such charter, prescribed rules under which it might make transfers from one position to a similar position in the same class or grade, and there existed no other provision in the charter empowering the board to make the transfer.

Id. — Office of Registrar of Voters — Manner of Appointment. — Under the provisions of section 14 of article IV of the charter of the county of Los Angeles, the registrar of voters of such county is an appointive officer, and the office not being in the unclassified civil service named in article IX, section 33, appointment to the office must, as required by subdivision 1, section 11, of article III, be made by the board of supervisors from the eligible civil service list, consisting of three persons certified by the commission as standing highest in accordance with the general rule prescribed by the commission for the creation of such list.

Id.—Character of Office—Charter.—The office of registrar of voters of the county of Los Angeles is, under the charter of that county, an independent office, as distinct and separate from that of county clerk as is that of auditor or recorder, and since it is specified as one of the offices to be filled by appointment to be made by the board of supervisors from the eligible civil service list, it cannot, under the pretense that it was of a like grade and class with that of deputy county clerk, be filled by the act of the civil service commission under the guise of transferring a deputy county clerk in charge of the registration department to such independent and distinct office.