# Quo Warranto **Quo warranto** — Latin for "by what authority" — is the common-law writ by which a court demands that someone holding a public office or franchise show the legal authority under which they hold it. Where the answer is inadequate, the judgment is **ouster**: the holder is removed, and the office is treated as having been unlawfully occupied. Its significance for elections is that it is the *other* route to the same place as an [[Election Contest]]. A contest attacks the count; quo warranto attacks the *title* — eligibility, qualification, a defective oath, a disqualification that no recount would ever surface. The two have substantially merged in modern statutes: Florida's contest remedy is expressed in exactly these terms, providing that "a judgment of ouster shall be entered" against a party already commissioned, after which the Governor revokes the commission and commissions the person the judgment names (Fla. Stat. § 102.1682). The writ matters structurally because it survives where a contest deadline has expired. Contest statutes close in days; a title defect is a continuing condition. Where a state's contest window has run, quo warranto is frequently the only instrument left — which also makes it the route by which a challenge to an officeholder can arrive long after the election that produced them. Expand with: the state-by-state availability and who may bring it (private relator vs. attorney general), the distinction from mandamus, the federal practice including the District of Columbia statute, and the modern use against officeholders on qualification grounds. This is a stub — created in the 2026-10-07 ASCII map build for [[State Election Contest Crosswalk]]. Expand as noted above. ## See Also - [[Election Contest]] · [[State Election Contest Crosswalk]] - [[Election Certification]] · [[Certificate of Election]]