Mississippi Advisory Opinions January 09, 1998: AGO 97-0771 (January 09, 1998)

Advisory Opinion Text

Ms. Jackie Exum-Petty

Registrar

City of Columbus

P.O. Box 1408

Columbus, Mississippi 39703

Re: Purging voter rolls

Dear Ms. Exum-Petty:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your request for an official opinion and has assigned it to me for research and reply. Your letter states, in pertinent part:

The issue is whether an individual can be purged from the voter rolls wherein said individual registered to vote by mail or in person and a voter card is issued by mail to the address provided by the registered voter, but the address is not valid and the mail is returned to the Registrar by the United States Postal Service and marked “Insufficient Address, ” or “No Such Address, ” or “Attempted Unknown.”

If a voter has not provided correct information, then he or she is not properly registered to vote. Therefore, that individual's name should not be on the voter registration rolls. However, this only applies in the situation you describe whereby the voter registration card being issued to the newly registered voter is returned for insufficient address or no such address. See MS AG Op., Elliott (May 25, 1994), attached for general provisions regarding the purging of the voter registration rolls.

If this office can be of any further assistance, please let us know.

Very truly yours,

Mike Moore, Attorney General.

Sandra M. Shelson Special Assistant Attorney General.