Mississippi Advisory Opinions December 18, 1991: AGO 000005559 (December 18, 1991)

AGO 000005559.

Dear Mr. Pearce:

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

"I represent the Town of Decatur, a municipality with a population of approximately 1,200 persons. The Town of Decatur contains five wards.

Recently, an alderman resigned and there is more than six months remaining in the term of that alderman. In looking at MCA, Section 23-15-857 concerning an election to fill the vacant office of alderman, I note that potential candidates must qualify by petition filed ten days prior to the election. As I stated above the Town of Decatur has more than 1,000 persons.

The ward involved has less than 1,000 persons. My question is whether potential candidates must obtain fifty qualified electors on their petitions from the entire municipality; or fifty qualified electors from the ward involve; or fifteen qualified electors from the ward since the ward has less than 1,000 persons."

It is our understanding that Decatur is a code charter municipality.

Mississippi Code Annotated Section 23-15-857 (Revised 1990) is derived from upon 3031, Code of 1892. The statutory provisions authorizing the election of aldermen in code charter municipalities from wards was not enacted until 1950 (Chapter 491, Laws of 1950). Therefore, the original requirement as to the number of signatures that must appear on a candidate's petition to have his name placed on the ballot in a special election was enacted when there were no elections by ward. It is the opinion of this office that it was not the intent of the Legislature to require that fifty (50) qualified electors sign a petition to have a particular individual's name placed on the ballot for an office elected by the qualified electors of a ward.

To say that, for example, in a Town of 1,000 population, a candidate for an office to be elected by 200 voters in a ward would have to obtain the same number of signatures on his petition that a candidate for an at-large office elected by 1,000 voters would be an absurd and unthought of interpretation that should be avoided. See, Quitman County v. Turner, 196 Miss. 746, 18 So.2d 122 (1944).

Based on the above, it is the opinion of this office that the intent of the Legislature was for the population of the election district, to determine whether the petition of a candidate to fill a vacancy in a municipal office must have fifty (50) or fifteen (15) signatures of qualified electors of that district. In other words, if the population of a particular ward in less than one thousand (1,000), a candidate for the board of aldermen from that ward would only be required to have the signatures of fifteen (15) qualified electors of that ward on his qualifying petition.

Sincerely,

MIKE MOORE, ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY: Phil Carter Special Assistant Attorney General PC:mfd