Mississippi Advisory Opinions February 18, 2000: AGO 2000-0067 (February 18, 2000)

Advisory Opinion Text

Leslie Scott, Esquire

Assistant Secretary of State for Elections

Post Office Box 136

Jackson, Mississippi 39205-0136

Re: Compensation for Attending Pollworker Training

Dear Ms. Scott:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your letter of request and has assigned it to me for research and reply.

Your letter states:

“Senate Bill 2579 was enacted into law in 1999 and is codified at Miss. Code Ann. Section 23-15-239 (1972) . One provision of SB 2579 permits the board of supervisors to compensate pollworkers for attending statutorily required pollworker training and to be paid 'not less than the federal hourly minimum wage nor more than Ten Dollars ($10.00) per hour. Managers shall not be compensated for more than two (2) hours of attendance at the training sessions....'

This office has received several questions from county election officials regarding this new law. Our questions, therefore, are:

(1) May pollworkers attending pollworker training conducted by county executive committees for primary elections be compensated by the county board of supervisors, if such compensation is approved by the board of supervisors?

(2) If the answer to question #1 is yes, may a pollworker be paid for a maximum of 2 hours training by the executive committee and also be paid for a maximum 2 hours training by the election commission, when such training is for a primary (executive committee) and the general election (election commission) which follows that same primary?”

Please see the enclosed copy of an opinion addressed to Honorable C.L. Pittman, dated May 11, 1994. In that opinion we said that “in reading Mississippi Code Annotated Sections 23-15-239 & 23-15-263 (Revised 1990) in pari materia it is the duty and responsibility of the appropriate party executive committees to train pollworkers who are to serve in the respective party primaries.” Since we have applied Section 23-15-239 to party executive committees insofar as training pollworkers is concerned, it would follow that the compensation provisions of said section would also apply to pollworkers for primary elections.

In response to your first question, it is our opinion that county boards of supervisors have the discretionary authority to compensate qualified electors of the county who are duly appointed to serve as pollworkers in a primary election and attend one or more training sessions conducted by a county party executive committee. The rate of such compensation must, of course, be within the limits set forth in Section 23-15-239 .

Regarding your second question, Section 23-15-239 authorizes qualified electors who have received the training “once during the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the date upon which such election is held” to serve in said election.

A county election commission may choose to appoint qualified individuals who were previously trained and served in a primary to also serve in the following general election. However, if individuals who were paid for attending one or more training sessions conducted by a party executive committee are appointed by a commission, it is our opinion that they would not be eligible for any further compensation for attending another training session. This is not to say that the commission could not require their attendance if it is deemed necessary.

Sincerely,