Mississippi Advisory Opinions October 24, 1977: 1977-0028 (October 24, 1977)

Advisory Opinion Text

Mrs. Jo Ann O'Neal

Secretary

Harrison County Board of Election Commissioners

Post Office Box 6691

Gulfport, Mississippi 39501

Elections - Registration - Commissioners

Dear Mrs. O'Neal:

Attorney General Summer has received your letter of request and has referred it to me for research and reply.

Your letter stated:

“The following questions have been raised and I would appreciate your furnishing me an opinion relating to them.

“1. Must the address of a registered voter which appears in the poll books be the same as the place of residence shown by the voter in the registration book?

“2. Does the Registrar and / or Election Commissioners have the authority (either at his own discretion or by order of a Circuit Court judge) to change the address of the registered voter in the poll book if it is learned he has moved from his place of residence as shown in the registration book without the voter's knowledge and / or consent?

“3. If a voter changes his place of residence and moves from one District to another, what procedures must he follow in order to change or correct his voting place to the new District?”

The responses to your questions are in the same order as the questions appear.

The form of the poll book is prescribed in Section 23-5-73, Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated, which states in part:

“ . . . Form of poll book.

“ The poll book of each election district shall have printed or written at the top of each page words to designate the election district for which it is to be used, and shall be ruled in appropriate columns, with printed or written headings, as follows: Date of registration; name of electors; age; and a number of blank columns for the dates of elections. . . . When election commissioners determine that any elector is disqualified from voting, by reason of removal from the precinct, or other cause, that fact shall be noted on the registration book and his name shall be erased from the poll book.”

The poll books described are the poll books for general elections. The above cited statute concerns your first question and I do not find any information elsewhere in the Code concerning the form of poll books for general elections.

Primary election poll books are described in Section 3112 of the Appendix to Title 23 in Volume 6 of the Code, as follows:

“ . . . Primary election poll books.

“It shall be the duty of registrar of the county, municipality, or election district, to prepare and furnish to the election commissioner of such district poll books for each precinct or ward of such election district, in which shall be entered the name, residence , age, and date of registration of each person duly registered in such district as now provided by law, and which poll books shall be known as 'primary election poll books' and shall be used only in holding primary elections. The election commissioners of the county, city or other election districts shall revise such primary poll books at the time and in the manner and in accordance with the laws now fixed and in force for revising poll books now provided for under the law, except they shall not remove therefrom any person who is qualified under the provisions hereof to participate in such primary elections; . . . (Emphasis supplied)

Neither of the above cited statutes concerning poll books specifically address your first question, and a direct answer is not found elsewhere in the Code.

There is no requirement in the applicable statute that a voter's residence be entered in the general election poll books. As to the primary election poll books, a voter's residence, as recorded in these books, should be the same as the residence recorded in the registration books.

The registrar has the authority to change the address of a registered voter in the primary poll books should he be correctly informed of such a change.

The election commissioners meet from time to time, as provided by statute, to revise the poll books. When they are correctly informed of a voter's change of address they have the authority to effect such change as to poll books which record the residences of voters.

Changes of address by the registrar or the election commissioners may be effected at the voter's request. Such change of address may be made without the voter's knowledge or consent so long as the correct address shall be officially recorded.

When the matter of a change of address for a voter is properly before a circuit judge, that judge's order for a change of address is authority to make such a change.

When a voter changes his place of residence and moves from one district to another, the voter may inform the registrar and, upon proper verification of such change, the registrar may make the change. Alternatively, the voter may communicate the change of address to the election commissioners who, when meeting to revise registration and poll books, may effect the change.

Very truly yours,

A. F. Summer Attorney General.