Mississippi Advisory Opinions November 14, 1997: AGO 000012335 (November 14, 1997)

AGO 000012335.

Dear Mr. Wilson:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your letter of request and has assigned it to me for research and reply. A copy of your letter is attached for reference, in which you inquire:

May a person who is 17 years old, register 30 days or more prior to a special election when that person will be 18 years of age on or before the date of such special election?

Section 23-15-11, Miss. Code Ann. (Supp. 1997) states, in pertinent part:

Any person who will be eighteen (18) years of age or older on or before the date of the general election and who is duly registered to vote not less than thirty (30) days prior to the primary election associated with such general election, may vote in such primary election even though such person has not reached his or her eighteenth birthday at the time such person offers to vote at such primary election....

Section 23-15-833 provides, in pertinent part:

All special elections, or elections to fill vacancies, shall in all respects be held, conducted and returned in the same manner as general elections....

Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that a person who will be eighteen years of age on or before the date of the special election may register to vote thirty (30) days or more prior to a special election.

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

Very truly yours,

MIKE MOORE,

ATTORNEY GENERAL

By: Sandra Murphy Shelson

Special Assistant Attorney General