Village residents sought writ of mandamus to compel school board to forward residents’ petition proposing transfer of village’s territory to a different school district to county board of elections for it to review sufficiency of signatures on petition.
The Supreme Court held that:
- Residents’ claim was not barred by laches;
- Residents lacked adequate remedy in ordinary course of the law, as required for mandamus relief;
- School board had clear legal duty to forward petition to board of elections for review of signatures;
- School board’s substantive challenges to petition could not extinguish residents’ clear right to relief;
- School board was not entitled to indefinitely “table” petition; and
- School board’s claim that residents were not entitled to relief because proposal would ultimately have to be kept off primary ballot was unripe.