Alabama Advisory Opinions May 15, 2006: AGO 2006-094 (May 15, 2006)

AGO 2006-094.

Dear Judge Davis:

This opinion of the Attorney General is issued in response to your request.

1. If the list of qualified voters is printed by the newspaper, must it be in nine-point standard type size referenced under section 17-4-129, as amended by Act 2006-537?

2. If the list is published as a preprinted supplement in the newspaper, must it be in nine-point type?

Pursuant to section 17-4-129 of the Code of Alabama, the probate judge must publish a correct alphabetical list of qualified electors by precinct, district, or subdivision in a newspaper of general circulation in the county on or before the 20th day before the primary election.

Ala. Code § 17-4-129 (Supp. 2005). The Legislature recently amended this section to provide for the publishing of the voter list as a preprinted or inserted supplement in the newspaper as follows:

The judge of probate shall publish from the state voter registration list a correct alphabetical list of qualified electors by precinct, district, or subdivision wherein each elector is registered to vote, in some newspaper with general circulation in the county, on or before the twentieth day preceding the regularly scheduled primary election. The list shall be accompanied by a certificate verifying that the list contains the names of all qualified electors registered as of the date shown on the state voter registration list. The list shall further state that any elector whose name was inadvertently omitted from the list shall have 10 days in which to have his or her name entered upon the list of qualified voters. If within 10 days any voter shall reasonably satisfy the board of registrars by proper proof that any name should be added to the list, the board shall add such name to the list. The supplemental list of registered voters inadvertently omitted from the original list shall be published once in a newspaper of general circulation in the county on or before the seventh day preceding the date of the primary election. The lists required to be published pursuant to this section may be published, at the discretion of the county commission, as a preprinted or inserted advertising supplement at a cost no greater than the selected newspaper's lowest applicable national insertion rates. If the list is published as a preprinted supplement in the selected newspapers, the supplement size shall conform to the size requirements set by the selected newspapers and shall be printed on standard newsprint paper. The type size shall be no smaller than nine point standard type. The list shall also be delivered to the newspapers for insertion in a manner required for other advertising supplements. The supplement may not contain any other advertising. Any newspaper accepting a preprinted insertion that is not prepared by the newspaper shall not be responsible for the content of such insertion. Nothing in the section shall prohibit a county commission from publishing the list of voters in more than one newspaper within the county at the county commission's discretion.

2006 Ala. Acts No. 2006-537, § 1 (amendment highlighted).

Under the established rules of statutory construction, words used in a statute must be given their natural, plain, ordinary, and commonly understood meaning, and where plain language is used, a court is bound to interpret that language to mean exactly what it says. Ex parte Cove Properties, Inc. , 796 So. 2d 331 (Ala. 2000); Ex parte T.B. , 698 So. 2d 127 (Ala. 1997); State Dep't of Transp. v. McLelland , 639 So. 2d 1370 (Ala. 1994).

The requirement that "[t]he type size shall be no smaller than nine point standard type" is included in the middle of the provisions providing for the supplement. The provisions immediately preceding and following that sentence specifically address the size requirements and method of delivery of the supplement. Therefore, like those provisions, the type-size requirement refers to a voter list published as a preprinted supplement in the newspaper, not a list printed by the newspaper.

A list of qualified voters printed by the newspaper is not subject to the type-size requirement of section 17-4-129 of the Code of Alabama. A list published as a preprinted supplement in the newspaper must be printed, at a minimum, in nine-point standard type.

I hope this opinion answers your questions. If this Office can be of further assistance, please contact Ward Beeson of my staff.

Sincerely,

TROY KING

Attorney General

By: BRENDA F. SMITH

Chief, Opinions Division

TK/GWB

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