Mississippi Advisory Opinions April 02, 1979: 19790402 (April 02, 1979)

Advisory Opinion Text

Election Commissioners - Registrar - Re-registration

Honorable Griffin Norquist

Attorney

Yazoo County Board of Supervisors

Post Office Box 68

Yazoo City, Mississippi 39194

Dear Mr. Norquist:

Your letter request of March 20, 1979, addressed to Honorable A. F.Summer, Attorney General, has been received and assigned to this writer for research and reply. Your letter states:

“The Board of Supervisors of Yazoo County, Mississippi, has adopted a redistricting order for the supervisors' districts of Yazoo County. The resolution adopting the order was published and no objections were received. A letter has now been received from the United States Department of Justice stating that the Attorney General does not interpose any objection to the redistricting; therefore, the redistricting is now considered in effect for the elections that will be held this Summer and fall.

“In order to assure that all qualified persons will be eligible to vote, the County intends to 'administratively reregister' as many qualified electors as possible. In order to accomplish this in time for the 1979 voting, it will be necessary that the registrar employ additional office help. Section 23-5-53 of the 1972 Code, as amended, provides 'the registrar shall be entitled to such compensation . . . as the Board of Supervisors of the County may allow, but not less than the following amounts . . . . ' Apparently, this statute authorizes the Board of Supervisors to pay the registrar reasonable compensation, without limitation for services as registrar.

“Because of their knowledge and experience, the registrar would like to employ the Election Commissioners to assist her in these services. Sections 23-5-81, 23-5-179 and 23-5-183 concern the compensation of the Election Commissioners by the Board of Supervisors.

“The members of the Board of Supervisors agree with the registrar that the use of the Election Commissioners in assisting the registrar with her duties would be advisable, and the Board of Supervisors has asked that I obtain your opinion as to whether there would be any prohibition of the registrar employing the Election Commissioners to assist her in these duties and paying them out of the funds she receives as registrar.

“The Board of Supervisors would also like your opinion as to whether the Election Commissioners could be compensated for their services in these matters under the authority of Section 23-5-179 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, as amended, without the limitation imposed by Section 23-5-183 and 23-5-81 of the Mississippi Code.

“The Board of Supervisors also realizes that in order to effectively 'administratively re-register' the qualified electors, additional postage and publicity will have to be given to this matter. The Board would like to have the registrar handle these matters and then be reimbursed by payment as registrar under the provisions of said Section 23-5-53 . The Board would also appreciate your opinion as to the legality of this procedure.”

For mutual assistance, we have attached photo copy of the four Code sections recited in letter.

You advised this writer in a telephone conversation that the redistricting was approved by the U.S. Department of Justice on March 14, 1979, that Yazoo is a Class 1 county and that it has over ten thousand qualified electors.

Re: Fourth paragraph of your letter. It is the opinion of this office that the answer to the first question you present is in the negative. Section 23-5-53(2) states that the Registrar will assist the Election Commissioners and not that the Commissioners assist the Registrar. There is an inherent conflict in what you propose. However, under § 23-5-7, the Registrar is empowered to appoint deputy registrars (being persons other than the Election Commissioners) with the approval of the State Board of Election Commissioners.

Re: Fifth paragraph of your letter. The answer is “no”, it being the opinion of this office that § 23-5-81 and -83 are limitations upon § 23-5-179.

Re: Sixth and final paragraph of your letter. The answer is “yes”. It is the opinion of this office that such expenditures are incidental to and in conjunction with assisting the Election Commissioners under the provisions of § 23-5-53.

With kindest personal regards, I am

Sincerely yours,

A. F. Summer, Attorney General