Mississippi Advisory Opinions July 12, 1989: AGO 000004799 (July 12, 1989)

AGO 000004799.

Dear Mr. Gex:

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

"In reference to the captioned matter, I have been requested by the Hancock County Election Commission to obtain an opinion from you relative to what Hancock County, by and through its Hancock County Election Commission, is required to furnish the Democratic and Republican Parties for their primary elections. As I read the special election laws, it appears to be solid as to what the county election commission is required to furnish the two parties. Therefore, I would appreciate it if you would be so kind as to advise me as to exactly what the Hancock County Election Commission is required to furnish for the Democratic and Republican Party election."

Mississippi Code Annotated s 23-15-263 (Supp. 1988) provides in part:

"The county executive committee at primary elections shall discharge the functions imposed upon the county election commissioners, except as to revising the registration and pollbooks, and shall be subject to all the penalties to which county election commissioners are subject....."

Section 23-15-127 provides:

"It shall be the duty of registrar of the county or municipality to prepare and furnish to the appropriate election commissioner pollbooks for each voting precinct in which the election is to be conducted, in which shall be entered the name, residence, date of birth and date of registration of each person duly registered in such voting precinct as now provided by law, and which pollbooks shall be known as 'primary election pollbooks' and shall be used only in holding primary elections. The election commissioners of the county or city shall revise such primary pollbooks at the time and in the manner and in accordance with the laws now fixed and in force for revising pollbooks now provided for under the law, except they shall not remove therefrom any person who is qualified under the provisions hereof to participate in such primary elections; all laws applicable to the revision of pollbooks now in use, shall be applicable to the revision of pollbooks for primary elections herein provided for, and all rights of voters to be heard and to appeal to the executive committee of his party from the action of such election commissioners now provided by law shall be available to the voter in the revisions of the pollbooks for primary elections herein provided for."

Section 23-15-301 provides in part:

"All the expenses of printing the tickets or primary election ballots, for necessary stationery, and for paying the managers, clerks and returning officer of every primary election authorized by this chapter held in any county shall be paid by the board of supervisors of such county out of the general funds of the county..." Section 23-15-135 provides:

"The registration books of the several voting precincts of each county and the pollbooks heretofore in use shall be delivered to the registrar of the county, and they, together with the registration books and pollbooks hereafter made, shall be records of his office, and he shall carefully preserve the same as such; and after each election the pollbooks shall be speedily returned to the office of the registrar."

In response to your inquiry, it is the opinion of this office that the election commission has the responsibility to insure that the pollbooks to be used in primary elections contain only the names of individuals who are legally entitled to vote in said elections and that said pollbooks are returned to the circuit clerk to be available for the use of party executive committees in conducting their party's primary elections. We find no requirement that the commission provide political parties with any materials with which to conduct primary elections. The county is, of course, required to pay for the expenses incurred by the party executive committees in conducting primary elections in accordance with section 23-15-301 supra.

Sincerely,

MIKE MOORE, ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY:____________________________________

PHIL CARTER SPECIAL ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL

PC/prb