Mississippi Advisory Opinions June 18, 2010: No. 2010-00324 (June 18, 2010)

No. 2010-00324.

Dear Mr. Hillman:

Attorney General Jim Hood has received your request and assigned it to me for research and reply.

Miss. Code Ann. Section 23-15-807(b)(I) (1972) states that all candidates and political committees must file pre-election reports in those calendar years during which there is a regularly scheduled election. It has been the practice of the Secretary of State's Office to require candidates and political committees to file pre-election reports with regard to special elections as well. Do candidates and political committees have an obligation to file a pre-election report with regard to special elections?

Yes.

Miss. Code Ann. Section 23-15-807 (1972) provides in pertinent part as follows:

(b) Candidates who are seeking election, or nomination for election, and political committees that make expenditures for the purpose of influencing or attempting to influence the action of voters for or against the nomination for election, or election, of one or more candidates or balloted measures at such election, shall file the following reports:

(i) In any calendar year during which there is a regularly scheduled election, a preelection report, which shall be filed no later than the seventh day before any election in which such candidate or political committee has accepted contributions or made expenditures and which shall be complete as of the tenth day before such election;

Miss. Code Ann. Section 23-15-833 (1972) reads in pertinent part as follows:

Except as otherwise provided by law, the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of each year shall be designated the regular special election day, and on that day an election shall be held to fill any vacancy in county, county district, and district attorney elective offices.

All special elections, or elections to fill vacancies, shall in all respects be held, conducted and returned in the same manner as general elections...

The first Tuesday after the first Monday in November of every year is set in statute as the "regular special election day." It is thus a regularly scheduled election, even if no vacancy exists requiring the election to be conducted.

Moreover, regularly scheduled general elections are set in statute for each year of Mississippi's four year election cycle: In even numbered years, Miss. Code Ann. Section 23-15-1031 (1972) provides for elections to Congress. Odd numbered years alternate between the gubernatorial election year established in Section 140 of the Constitution of 1890 and Miss. Code Ann. Section 23-15-193 (1972), and the municipal election year established in Miss. Code Ann. Section 23-15-173 (1972).

Accordingly, the provisions of Section 23-15-807(b)(i) apply both to special elections held on the regular special election day and to called special elections, such as those to fill vacancies in municipal office or the Legislature.

Please let me know if you would like to discuss this matter or if I can be of further assistance.

Sincerely,

JIM HOOD, ATTORNEY GENERAL

By:

Reese Partridge

Assistant Attorney General