Mississippi Advisory Opinions April 04, 1985: 19850404 (April 04, 1985)

Advisory Opinion Text

Mr. Cecil G. Anderson

Clerk of the Circuit Court

Jefferson Davis County

Post Office Box 1082

Prentiss, Mississippi 39474

Dear Mr. Anderson:

Attorney General Edwin Lloyd Pittman has received your opinion request and assigned it to me for research and reply, your letter stating:

“Jefferson Davis County, Mississippi has been approved for re-registration and some questions have arisen concerning persons convicted of certain crimes not to be registered. Mississippi Code § 23-5-35 . At what time do these individuals regain their right to vote?”

§ 23-5-35, Mississippi Code of 1972, lists the crimes, the conviction for which authorizes the election commission to remove their names from the voter registration books as they are, by their conviction, no longer a qualified elector.

They regain their right to vote only by a 2/3rds vote of the legislature under § 253, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, or by an appropriate act of clemency by the Governor under his pardoning power as set out in § 124, ibid , copies of which constitutional provisions are attached and by reference made a part hereof.

Yours very truly,

Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Attorney General.