Mississippi Advisory Opinions April 05, 1996: AGO 96-0142 (April 05, 1996)

Advisory Opinion Text

Ms. Carol Horton

Deputy Circuit Clerk

Lee County

P.O. Box 762

Tupelo, Mississippi 38802-0762

Re: Deputy Circuit Clerk as Election Commissioner

Dear Ms. Horton:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your request for an official opinion and has assigned it to me for research and reply. In your letter you state in pertinent part:

I am a Deputy Circuit Clerk of Lee County, Mississippi. One of my duties is preparing for elections. We have the Optech Eagle voting machines, and I have been trained to code all elections as well as receive the memory packs on election night and tabulate the results that night and the following day with the committees and commissioners. Is there a conflict of interest with my running for Lee County Election Commissioner? Would I have to delegate my duties and responsibilities regarding election coding and tabulating results to another deputy? I might add that I really enjoy this part of my job, and I have worked hard to learn this very complicated procedure.

In a prior opinion we stated that the dual relationship of deputy circuit clerk and election commissioner could easily present a conflict of interest because an election commissioner may be called upon to pass on acts of the circuit clerk, the deputy's employer. MS AG Op., Gavin (August 14, 1980), attached. Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that a deputy circuit clerk should resign from his or her office if elected to the position of election commissioner.

We have referred your letter to the Mississippi Ethics Commission for review of any other possible conflict of interest.

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

Very truly yours,

Mike Moore, Attorney General.

Sandra M. Shelson Special Assistant Attorney General.