Mississippi Advisory Opinions December 01, 2000: AGO 000014118 (December 1, 2000)

AGO 000014118.

Dear Mr. Tubb:

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

Your letter states:

On November 7, 2000 I was elected to the office of Election Commissioner for Beat 1, Tallahatchie County, Mississippi.

I live inside the city limits of Charleston, Mississippi and am planning on running for mayor or city commissioner in 2001.

I am hereby requesting a written opinion as to whether I can qualify, run, and serve if elected to either of these offices while serving in the office of Beat 1 Election Commissioner.

In response to your inquiry Mississippi Code Annotated, Section 23-15-217(1) (Supp. 2000) provides:

A commissioner of election of any county may be a candidate for any other office at any election held or to be held during the four-year term for which he has been elected to the office of commissioner of election or with reference to which he has acted as such provided that he has resigned from the office of election commissioner before January 1 of the year in which he desires to seek the office.

The Mississippi Supreme Court in Stringer v. Lucas, 608 So.2d 1351 (Miss. 1992) ruled that the provisions of Section 23-15-217 do apply to a county election commissioner who decides to run for a municipal office.

Therefore, we are of the opinion that if you take the oath of office and become a county election commissioner in January, 2001 you could not lawfully be a candidate for either of the offices in question in the 2001 municipal elections.

Sincerely,

MIKE MOORE

ATTORNEY GENERAL

By: Phil Carter

Special Assistant Attorney General

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