Mississippi Advisory Opinions February 25, 2011: No. 2011-00053 (February 25, 2011)

No. 2011-00053.

Dear Ms. Smylie:

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

You first ask if there is statutory authority for a circuit clerk to change the status of a voter without contact with the voter.

We understand that your second question pertains to purging names of voters who appear to have moved out of the county and have been mailed "confirmation cards" to verify their residence and to which the voters have not responded. You ask if the requirement that two successive federal general elections must occur before the names of those voters may be removed from the voter rolls is still in effect.

In response to your first question, circuit clerks are authorized to remove the name of any registered voter who has been convicted of a disenfranchising crime from the voter rolls without any contact with the voter.

Furthermore, we have previously opined that circuit clerks have the authority to modify voter information in the Statewide Election Management System (SEMS) when necessary to insure that the system is properly administered. MS AG Op., Martin (March 29, 2010).

In response to your second question, the requirement that two successive federal general elections occur prior to the purging of names of voters based on a change in residence who have been sent a "confirmation card" to which they have not responded is still in effect.

Mississippi Code Annotated Section 23-15-19 (Revised 2007) addresses your first question and provides in part

Any person who has been convicted of any crime listed in Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, shall not be registered, or if registered the name of such person shall be erased from the registration book on which it may be found by the registrar or by the election commissioners. ...

Section 23-15-153 (1) addresses your second question and provides in part

Except for the names of those persons who are duly qualified to vote in the election, no name shall be permitted to remain on the registration books and pollbooks; however, no name shall be erased from the registration books or pollbooks based on a change in the residence of an elector except in accordance with procedures provided for by the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 that are in effect at the time of such erasure.

The National Voter Registration Act of 1993, 42 U.S.C. Section 1973gg, deals, in part, with the "confirmation cards" referred to in our response. Section 1973gg-6(d) provides in part

A State shall not remove the name of a registrant from the official list of eligible voters in elections for Federal office on the ground that the registrant has changed residence unless the registrant-

(A) confirms in writing that the registrant has changed residence to a place outside the registrar's jurisdiction in which the registrant is registered; or

(B) (i) has failed to respond to a notice described in paragraph (2); and

(ii) has not voted or appeared to vote (and, if necessary, correct the registrar's record of the registrant's address) in an election during the period beginning on the date of the notice and ending on the day after the date of the second general election for Federal office that occurs after the date of the notice.

Circuit clerks, as county registrars, may remove the names of a registered voter from the voter rolls without contact with the voter upon verification that the voter has been convicted of a disenfranchising crime. We are enclosing a copy of our opinion to Walter Heggie dated July 9, 2009 which lists twenty-two crimes that have been identified as disenfranchising. Additionally, we are of the opinion that circuit clerks may modify voter information in SEMS when necessary to insure that the system is properly administered.

The federal requirement that two successive federal general elections occur prior to the purging of names of voters based on a change in residence, who have been sent a "confirmation card" to which they have not responded, is still in effect and applies to state, local and federal elections.

Sincerely,

JIM HOOD, ATTORNEY GENERAL

By:

Phil Carter

Special Assistant Attorney General