Mississippi Advisory Opinions September 27, 1996: AGO 000011564 (September 27, 1996)

AGO 000011564.

Dear Ms. Stringer:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your two letters of request for official opinions of this office and has assigned them to me for a reply.

In your letter dated September 13, 1996, you state, in pertinent part:

The Harrison County Election Commission received a made-up copy of a proposition by the Harrison County School Board for a school bond election, no dollar amount shown, to be held on Tuesday, November 6, 1996, same date as the General Election. I talked to Reese Partridge at the Secretary of State's office on Wednesday, September 11, 1996, who stated that it was too late to put it on the Ballot, Section 23-15-359(5).

In your letter dated September 17, 1996, you state:

It appears that the School Board is asking for a separate Special Election on November 5, 1996, the same date as the General Election.

Can the Election Commission hold a Special Election on the same date as the General Election?

Can a separate and distinct School Bond Issue be held on the General Election day without being a part of the General Election?

You also inquire:

May the Harrison County Election Commissioners use these stickers on election day?

The sticker reads "I Voted Today, Have You?" with "Daughters of the American Revolution, Mississippi State Society" on it as well.

In response to the issue raised in your first letter, Section 23-15-359(5), Miss. Code Ann. (Supp. 1996) states:

The commissioners may also have printed upon the ballot any local issue election matter that is AUTH orized to be held on the same date as the regular or general election pursuant to Section 23-15-375; provided, however, that the ballot form of such local issue must be filed with the commissioners of election by the appropriate governing authority not less than sixty (60) days previous to the date of the election.

Section 23-15-375 provides that elections regarding the issuance of bonds is a local issue.

Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that unless a local issue is presented to the election commission not less than sixty days prior to the election, the local issue may not be on the ballot for the general election.

In response to the questions raised in your second letter, Sections 37-59-11 et seq. provide that the school board shall call for an election on the issuance of bonds for the school district. Sections 37-59-13 through 37-59-15 set forth the procedures for conducting a school bond election. Therefore, the Election Commission may hold a special election on a separate and distinct school bond issue on the same date as the General Election provided that the procedural requirements of Sections 37-59-11 et seq., particularly the notice provision of Section 37-59-13, are met.

Regarding your question on the sticker, there is no prohibition from giving out the "I Voted" stickers as long as the sticker cannot be construed to be campaign literature nor endorses any particular candidate.

If this office can be of any further assistance, please let us know.

Very truly yours,

MIKE MOORE

ATTORNEY GENERAL

By:

Sandra M. Shelson

Special Assistant Attorney General