Mississippi Advisory Opinions October 30, 1991: AGO 000005437 (October 30, 1991)

AGO 000005437.

Dear. Mr. Gowan:

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

Per our telephone conversation of this date, I would like to request an official opinion from your office whether the Noxubee County Board of Supervisors may properly pay members of the Noxubee County Election Commission who worked primary workers in the September and October primaries.

I make this request in my capacity as Attorney for the Noxubee County Board of Supervisors.

In response to your inquiry, the commissioners that served at the polls due to an emergency should be compensated on a quantum meruit basis for the services they actually performed. However, this office makes this conclusion with reservations, stressing the fact that commissioners should not serve at the polls in the future to avoid a severe conflict of interest.

Enclosed is an opinion addressed to Honorable Donald G. Kruger, dated June 1, 1988, which refers to Mississippi Code Annotated Section 23-15-931 (Rev. 1990) which provides that the county election commissioners shall sit as advisors to the judge in a primary election contest. If county election commissioners were allowed to serve at the polls during the primary elections as well as sit as advisors in these election contests, a serious conflict of interest would occur.

However, because the election commissioners served at the polls due to the fact that the original poll workers could not serve, and the fact that the commissioners did actually provide their services, the workers should be compensated on a quantum meruit basis for the work they performed at the polls. But, as a result of the conflict of interest that has arisen, an election contest could result in serious consequences which could have been avoided.

If a poll worker cannot serve due to an emergency, an objective person that is not a member of the commission should be hired to serve in the original poll worker's place. Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that commissioners should not be allowed to work at the polls again to avoid the conflict of interest discussed above.

Sincerely,

MIKE MOORE, ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY: Phil Carter Special Assistant Attorney General PCC:mfd Enclosure