Mississippi Advisory Opinions January 30, 1990: 19900130 (January 30, 1990)

Advisory Opinion Text

Mr. Harrell Granberry

City Clerk

Post Office Box 689

Yazoo City, Mississippi 39194

Dear Mr. Granberry:

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

‘As you are aware, two separate groups in Yazoo City are claiming to be the Democratic Municipal Executive Committee. I have submitted documentation from both committees supporting their claims. Please review this documentation and render an opinion as to which committee should conduct the Democratic Primary Election to be held in Yazoo City on March 5, 1990.’

It is our understanding that Yazoo City operates under a special charter which provides for party primary elections to be held on Monday, March 5, 1990 and, if necessary, a second primary or runoff election to be held on Monday, March 19, 1990 to determine the party nominees for the various municipal elective offices. For the purpose of this opinion we assume that the charter does not specify how the party executive committees are to be elected and that the general law controls the method and procedure for such election.

Mississippi Code Annotated § 23–15–171 (Special Pamphlet, 1989) is the general statute that governs, in part, municipal primary elections and contains certain specific provisions concerning the election of party executive committees. It provides in part:

‘. . . At such primary election the municipal executive committee shall perform the same duties as are specified by law and performed by members of the county executive committee with regard to state and county primary elections. Each municipal executive committee shall have as many members as there are elective officers of the municipality, and such members of the municipal executive committee of each political party shall be elected in the primary elections held for the nomination of candidates for municipal offices.’

Section 23–15–309(5) provides:

‘Where there is but one (1) candidate, the proper municipal executive committee when the time has expired within which the names of candidates shall be furnished shall declare such candidate the nominee.’

Among the documentation that has come to our attention is a copy of the minutes of the Yazoo City Municipal Democratic Executive Committee held at 3:00 P.M. Wednesday, February 19, 1986. Those minutes, inter alia, state that ‘the candidates for the office of members of the Yazoo City Democratic Executive Committee, Clayton Davis, Glen W. Anderson, T. H. Campbell, Jr., O. E. Ingram, and Harry P. Walton, be and they are named as members of the Democratic Executive Committee and having no opposition are declared elected by having filed for the office as required by law at the proper time.’ Assuming the accuracy and validity of these minutes it appears that the above named individuals were duly elected to serve as the municipal democratic executive committee until a new committee is duly elected in the upcoming 1990 democratic primary election.

Apparently, the election of the above named individuals in 1986 was not a matter of general knowledge among the citizenry of Yazoo City and as a result a temporary committee was established. It is important to note that we have no documentation of the formation of that committee but will assume for the purpose of this opinion that the statutory procedure set out in Section 23–15–313 was fully complied with.

The practical determination that must be made is, of course, which committee can legally conduct the 1990 municipal democratic primary election. Based on the above stated statutory provisions, documentation and assumptions, it is the opinion of this office that the committee elected in 1986 composed of the individuals listed above has the legal authority and responsibility to conduct the election in question and that any qualified elector of the City of Yazoo City who wishes to be a candidate to serve on said committee for the ensuing four-year period may have his name placed on the ballot upon the proper filing of an appropriate written statement of intent in accordance with section 23–15–309.

Sincerely,

Mike Moore, Attorney General

Phil Carter Special Assistant Attorney General