Mississippi Advisory Opinions August 03, 1989: AGO 000003878 (August 3, 1989)

AGO 000003878.

Dear Mr. Henderson:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your letter of request and has assigned it to me for research and reply. Your letter presents the basic question of whether the city has the authority to pay poll workers for attending mandatory training sessions. A copy of your letter is attached for reference. We appreciate the citations of the applicable code sections. Mississippi Code Annotated 23-15-239 (Supp. 1988) as amended by Chapter 396, Laws, 1989 provides:

"The commissioners of election of each county, in conjunction with the circuit clerk, shall sponsor and conduct, not less than five (5) days prior to each election, training sessions to instruct managers and clerks as to their duties in the proper administration of the election and the operation of the polling place. No manager or clerk shall serve in any election unless he has received such instructions once during the twelve (12) months immediately preceding the date upon which such election is held; provided, however, that nothing in this section shall prevent the appointment of a manager to fill a vacancy in case of an emergency."

Section 23-15-227 provides:

"The managers and clerks shall be each entitled to Fifty Dollars ($50.00) for each election; and the manager or other person who shall carry to the place of voting, away from the courthouse, the official ballots, ballot boxes, pollbooks and other necessities, shall be allowed Ten Dollars ($10.00) for each voting precinct for so doing; and the manager or other person who acts as returning officer shall be allowed Ten Dollars ($10.00) for each voting precinct for that service, all to be allowed by the board of supervisors, payable out of the county treasury.

The compensation provided herein shall constitute payment in full for the services rendered by the persons named for any election, whether there be one (1) election or issue voted upon, or more than one (1) election or issue voted upon at the same time." (emphasis added)

Section 23-15-229 provides:

"The compensation for clerks, managers and other workers in the polling places of a municipality shall be the same as the compensation paid by the county for such services." Section 23-15-261 provides:

"The commissioners of election shall, after each election, make out a list of all persons who served as managers and clerks at the election, designating for what service each is entitled to pay, certify to the correctness of the same, and file it with the clerk of the board of supervisors; and an allowance shall not be made to any such officer unless his service be so certified"

Section 23-15-259 provides in part:

"The boards of supervisors of the several counties are authorized to allow compensation of the officers rendering services in matters of registration and elections, to provide ballot boxes, registration and pollbooks, and all other things required by law in registration and elections...."

In response to your inquiry, it is the opinion of this office that the compensation provided for in section 23-15-227, supra, constitutes full payment for all activities by pollworkers in connection with any election including the attendance of the required training session. Section 23-15-259, supra, in our opinion merely authorizes the appropriate governing authorities to allow such compensation upon proper certification in accordance ]with section 23-15-261, supra.

Sincerely,

MIKE MOORE, ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY:__________________________________ PHIL CARTER SPECIAL ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL

PC/prb Enclosure