Mississippi Advisory Opinions September 09, 1975: 1975-0008 (September 09, 1975)

Advisory Opinion Text

Mr. Emmette P. Allen

Attorney at Law

P. O. Box 828

Brookhaven, Mississippi 39601

Dear Mr. Allen:

Attorney General A. F. Summer has received your letter of request and has assigned it to this writer for research and reply.

Your letter states as follows:

“As Chairman of the Democratic Executive Committee of Lincoln County, question has been posed to me whether the provisions of Section 23-3-13 which provides that the initialing manager shall place his genuine initials on the back of the ballots is applicable where electronic voting devices are used?”

I am informed that Lincoln County utilizes an electronic voting system as authorized by Section 23-7-301, et seq., Mississippi Code of 1972, and therefore your request for an opinion will be answered accordingly.

Section 23-7-311, Mississippi Code of 1972, states in part as follows:

“If ballot cards are used, each card shall have a serially numbered stub which shall be removed in the presence of an election officer by the voter before being deposited in the ballot box.”

Section 23-7-317, Mississippi Code of 1972, states in part as follows:

“If ballot cards are used, the voter, after he has marked his ballot card, shall remove the stub in the presence of the election officer, and deposit the ballot card inside the ballot box. No ballot from which the stub has been detached without the presence of the election officer shall be accepted by the judge in charge of the ballot box, but it shall be marked 'SPOILED' and placed with the spoiled ballots.”

In the opinion of this office the provisions contained in the above cited statutes are intended to replace the procedure for initialing ballots as outlined in Section 23-3-13, Mississippi Code of 1972 . Therefore, in response to your specific inquiry, the intialing procedure outlined in Section 23-3-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is not applicable to the electronic voting devices used pursuant to Section 23-7-301, et seq., Mississippi Code of 1972 .

Trusting the above will be of some benefit to you, I am

Very truly yours,

A. F. Summer, Attorney General