Mississippi Advisory Opinions February 27, 1979: 19790227 (February 27, 1979)

Advisory Opinion Text

Mrs. Paul Conner, Election Commissioner

Town of Sidon

Post Office Box 412

Sidon, Mississippi 38954

Re: Elections—Qualifications to Vote—Qualifications of Candidates

Dear Mrs. Conner:

The Attorney General's Office has received your letter and it has been assigned to the undersigned for research and reply.

Your letter states:

‘I, as one of the three Election Commissioners of the Town of Sidon, Mississippi, respectfully request your opinion on these two matters concerning the March 6th election.

‘On Wednesday, February 21, 1979, the three election commissioners, duly appointed by the Board of Aldermen, Town of Sidon, met to purge the town books. By unanimous decision we declared Lonzo Word ineligible as an elector. The name Lonzo Word appears in the registrar's handwriting, however, there was no signature or any witnessed marks (X) by this name nor any date of registration shown. It was the considered unanimous opinion of all three commissioners that Lonzo Word was illegally allowed to vote in a previous town election. Lonzo Word has circulated a petition to qualify as a candidate to fill a vacancy on the Board. In your opinion, should we add his name on the town books so he would be qualified to vote and to be a candidate or should he have to register as all residents to become an elector?

‘We also have a person who has circulated a petition to qualify to fill a vacancy on the Board. She moved to Sidon on February 2, 1979, and was already on the Leflore County books. She registered on the Town of Sidon books on February 3, 1979. The election will be held March 6, 1979, and the qualifying date is February 24, 1979. By February 24 she will not have been here thirty days, but by the election date she will be a qualified elector. Your Guidelines to Municipal Elections state she must be a qualified elector to be a candidate. I feel that she is trying to qualify before she is an elector. What is your opinion?’

In response to your first question, reference is made to Section 23–5–31 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated, which provides: ‘. . .. Registrar to register voters.

Every person entitled to be registered as an elector in compliance with the laws of this state shall sign his name in the column provided therefor on the registration book and thereupon shall be registered by the registrar on the registration books of the election district of the residence of such person.

‘However, in the case of a transfer of registration conducted by mail, it shall not be necessary for the elector involved to sign the registration book.’

When the Election Commission considers whether a person is properly registered, the Commission members should rely upon the best information available to make decisions. As you know, under Section 21–11–3 of the Code, the Municipal Clerk is the registrar to municipal electors, and, therefore, a highly reliable source of information for this purpose. The Commission should, with the Clerk's assistance, make a factual determination concerning whether at a previous date the person you identify was, in fact, properly registered.

This is a question of fact which the Commissioners must necessarily decide themselves. This question may be satisfied by ascertaining if the person did make proper application for registration; was found by the Clerk to be a municipal resident and to be of the required age; if the application was approved by the Clerk, and if the person properly signed the registration book by a handwritten signature, or, in lieu thereof, has adopted a signature, cross-mark or other sign or symbol as his or her signature.

In response to your second question, to qualify by petition for municipal elective office in a municipal special election, the person who petitions must be a qualified municipal elector not later than the day of the election.

We trust this will be of assistance to you.

With kind regards, I am

Very truly yours,

A. F. Summer Attorney General.

S. E. Birdsong, Jr. Special Assistant Attorney General.