Mississippi Advisory Opinions March 14, 1995: AGO 95-0172 (March 14, 1995)

Advisory Opinion Text

James P. Dean, Esquire

Attorney for Alcorn County Election Commission

Post Office Box 1616

Corinth, Mississippi 38834

Re: Qualifications of Candidate

Dear Mr. Dean:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your letter of request and has assigned it to me for research and reply. A copy of your letter is attached for reference.

We understand your question to be whether, pursuant to Mississippi Code Annotated, Section 23–15–153 (Revised 1990), a county election commission should remove the name of an individual who has been declared Non Compos Mentis by a court of competent jurisdiction from the county registration records.

Section 23–15–153 provides in part:

“(1) At the following times the commissioners of election shall meet at the office of the registrar and carefully revise the registration books and the pollbooks of the several voting precincts, and shall erase therefrom the names of all persons erroneously thereon, or who have died, removed or become disqualified as electors from any cause; ...” (emphasis added)

Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890 provides in part:

“Every inhabitant of this State, except idiots and insane persons, who is a citizen of the United States of America, twenty-one (21) years old and upwards, ... is declared to be a qualified elector.” (emphasis added)

Black's Law Dictionary, Revised Fourth Edition, defines the term “Non Compos Mentis” as follows:

“Not sound of mine; insane. This is a very general term, embracing all varieties of mental derangement. See Insanity.” (emphasis added)

Also, following Black's definition of the term “insanity” there follows a listing of synonyms. Included in that list is the term “Non Compos Mentis” and defines that term as follows:

“Not of sound mind. A generic term applicable to all insane persons, of whatsoever specific type the insanity may be and from whatever cause arising, provided there be an entire loss of reason, as distinguished from mere weakness of mind. (Citations) (emphasis added)

In response to your inquiry, it is the opinion of this office that if the county election commission makes the determination that an individual whose name appears on the voter registration records has been determined to be Non Compos Mentis by a court of competent jurisdiction and has not since been determined by a court of competent jurisdiction to now be competent, said commission should remove the name of that individual from the registration records pursuant to Section 23–15–153 .

Sincerely,

Mike Moore, Attorney General.

Phil Carter, Assistant Attorney General