Mississippi Advisory Opinions October 07, 1987: 19871007 (October 07, 1987)

Advisory Opinion Text

Honorable Sandy Rasberry

Circuit Clerk of Madison County

Post Office Box 11

Canton, Mississippi 39046

Dear Ms. Rasberry:

Attorney General Edwin Lloyd Pittman has received your letter of request and assigned it to me for research and reply. In your letter you ask four questions which will be addressed in order below.

QUESTION NO.1 : Must all applications for absentee ballots be furnished by the Circuit Clerk of the County where the elector is registered to vote? For example, if the Clerk receives a completed application for absentee ballot that the or she did not fornish to the voter should the Clerk mail a ballot to that voter?

RESPONSE : Applications for absentee ballots are required to be in substantially the same form as that set forth by Miss. Code Ann. §23-15-627 (Supp. 1986; Special Pamphlet). While the responsibility to distribute these applications rests upon the registrar, we find nothing in the statute which would preclude a voter from making his own application so long as it substantially follows the form set forth by the statute. Thus, so long as the application is in the proper form and is properly executed by a qualified elector otherwise entitled to receive an absentee ballot by mail [ See , Miss. Code Ann. §23-15-715(b) (Supp. 1986; Special Pamphlet)], the registrar should mail the voter an absentee ballot as required by statute, regardless of who furnished the application to the voter.

QUESTION NO. 2 : Is the voter required to request the application for absentee ballot in person or may he/she authorize delivery of the application in writing?

QUESTION NO. 3 : Can a family member request the application on behalf of the voter without written authority?

QUESTION NO. 4 : Can an individual who is working for a candidate be furnished applications upon producing a list of names and addresses of those voters who wish to vote by absentee ballot?

RESPONSE : While some control is needed over the distribution of applications, the prime concern is maintaining control over the absentee ballots themselves. So long as a registrar has received a completed application and determines that the applicant is legally entitled to receive an absentee ballot by mail, this need for control has been satisfied. With this in mind, the need to control access to the application forms is less important. However, since the statute places the responsibility for furnishing the application's form “to any elector authorized to receive a ballot” upon the registrar, we feel that the manner of furnishing such forms should be left to the sound discretion of the registrar. Certainly the registrar would be under no duty to provide applications to anyone other than the voter himself, but may, in his discretion, do so under whatever cirsumstances it is deemed reasonable to do so.

Should you have any questions or if we may be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact this office.

Sincerely,

Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Attorney General.

John H. Emfinger Special Assistant Attorney General.