Mississippi Advisory Opinions July 27, 2004: AGO 000016252 (July 27, 2004)

AGO 000016252.

Dear Mr. Bearman:

Attorney General Jim Hood received your request for an Official Opinion and assigned it to me for research and response. In your letter of request, a copy of which is attached hereto and incorporated herein by reference, you ask whether Section 303(a)(1)(A) of the Help America Vote Act ("HAVA") vests final decision making authority with the Secretary of State of Mississippi to implement a computerized statewide voter registration system, including decisions concerning the purchase of said system?

As you note in your letter of request, Section 303(a)(1)(A) of HAVA states:

Except as provided in subparagraph (B), each State, acting through the chief State election official, shall implement, in a uniform and nondiscriminatory manner, a single, uniform, official, centralized, interactive computerized statewide voter registration list defined, maintained, and administered at the State level...

The Secretary of State was designated the chief State election officer for purposes of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 and was authorized to perform the various duties of the chief State election official set forth in HAVA. Miss. Code Ann. Section 23-15-211.1, Senate Bill Number 2857, Regular Session of 2004. These duties include the receipt and expenditure of federal funds relating to HAVA, the promulgation of rules and regulations relating to HAVA, the development of a single comprehensive poll worker training program and numerous other duties and responsibilities that relate to the implementation of HAVA in Mississippi. Senate Bill Number 2857, Regular Session of 2004.

As also noted in your request, Section 25-53-21(f) designates the executive director of the Department of Information Services as the purchasing and contracting agent for the State of Mississippi in the negotiation and execution of all contracts for the acquisition of computer equipment and services. The acquisition of computer equipment and services will be necessary in order to implement a computerized statewide voter registration system in Mississippi, as required by HAVA.. Your question, in essence, asks who has the final decision-making authority regarding such acquisition, the executive director of ITS, or the Secretary of State.

Reading all of these provisions together, it is our opinion that the statutory requirements applicable to the acquisition of computer equipment and services are also applicable to the acquisition of computer equipment and services necessary to implement a computerized statewide voter registration system under HAVA. We see no indication that the Legislature intended to exempt these acquisitions from other applicable statutory requirements.

However, acquisitions of computer equipment and services approved by ITS in order to implement a computerized voter registration system under HAVA will also have to be approved by the Secretary of State. The Legislature made its intent clear in this regard when it assigned the Secretary of State the duties and responsibilities of serving as the chief State election official and authorized him to receive and expend federal funds to meet the requirements of HAVA. See Senate Bill Number 2857, Regular Session of 2004.

Very truly yours,

JIM HOOD, ATTORNEY GENERAL

By:

Charles T. Rubisoff

Special Assistant Attorney General