Mississippi Advisory Opinions July 02, 1992: 19920702 (July 02, 1992)

Advisory Opinion Text

Honorable Margie G. Mosley

Circuit Clerk

Post Office Box 428

Waynesboro, Mississippi 39367

Re: PRIMARY ELECTIONS

Dear Mrs. Mosley:

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

“I would like an opinion concerning the following:

1. Can the same poll workers conduct both the Democratic election and Republican election?

2. How far apart does the Democratic election have to be from the Republican election?

3. Can the Democratic election be held in the same building as the Republican election?

4. If a voting precinct is moved across the public road to another building, does it require pre-clearance from the Justice Department?”

In response to your first question, please see the enclosed copy of an opinion addressed to Honorable Joe W. Martin, Jr., dated May 29, 1992. In summary that opinion states that we find no statutory prohibition against an individual being independently appointed to serve as a pollworker in two different primary elections being conducted simultaneously. Please note that Mississippi Code Annotated § 23–15–227 (Revised 1990) provides that pollworkers are not entitled to additional compensation for working in more than one election on the same day.

In response to your second question, we find no prescribed distance by which primaries of different parties must be separated.

In response to your third question, both the Democratic and Republican primaries are to be held at the regularly designated polling place in each precinct.

In response to your fourth question, the Code of Federal Regulations specifically lists any change in the location of polling places as an example of changes that are subject to the pre-clearance requirement of the Voting Rights Act. See 28 CFR § 51.13 .

Sincerely,

Mike Moore, Attorney General.