Mississippi Advisory Opinions August 24, 2007: No. 2007-00442 (August 24, 2007)

No. 2007-00442.

Dear Ms. Dillon:

Attorney General Jim Hood has received your request for an opinion and has assigned it me for research and reply. Your letter reads as follows:

In Leflore County we have a convicted felon who has been purged from the voter rolls for the disenfranchising crime of Uttering Forgery. The aforementioned felon has been very active in the election process by presenting people who want to request an absentee ballot. He calls the Circuit Clerk's Office many times a day and then puts someone on the phone who asks for an absentee application. In many of the instances once on the phone they will have to ask him to tell them why they are requesting an absentee ballot. Many of them return the applications by mail with his signature as witness. Once the ballot is mailed some of them call back saying that they never received the ballot but their ballots mysteriously come back voted even though they say they never received them.

He also brings voters into the Circuit Clerk's Office to vote absentee in person.

The same felon has brought in stacks of voter registration applications that have been completed.

Is there any code that addresses whether or not a convicted felon can be involved in the election process?

The Legislature has enacted no statutory prohibitions against convicted felons assisting persons eligible to vote to participate in the election process, as long as proper procedures are followed. It appears that you may have evidence of voter fraud being perpetrated and same should be brought to the attention of the Leflore County District Attorney and the Public Integrity Division of this office.

Please let us know if we may be of further assistance.

Sincerely,

JIM HOOD, ATTORNEY GENERAL

By: Phil Carter

Special Assistant Attorney General

cc: Scott Johnson Director, Public Integrity Division