Mississippi Advisory Opinions September 28, 1995: AGO 95-0682 (September 28, 1995)

Advisory Opinion Text

Honorable Connie Cochran

Chair

Hinds County Election Commission

Post Office Box 946

Jackson, Mississippi 39205-0946

Re: Voting Machines

Dear Ms. Cochran:

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

“This letter is following a conversation you and I had earlier today regarding the voting machines and ballot boxes that were and still are secured following an election contest that has been challenged in Hinds County. The election was between candidates for a supervisor position. The Democratic Executive Committee has certified a candidate and has voted to have their decision stand.

My request to you is to issue an opinion regarding the situation. We have a need to clear the voting machines as quickly as possible, because they are scheduled to be shipped to New York this weekend to be refurbished, and returned in time for the November election. The information remaining in the ballot boxes must be cleared, in preparation for the November election, and work done regarding the votes cast in the August 29 runoff election.”

Article 15, Chapter 15, Mississippi Code Annotated (Revised 1990) is the statutory law in regard to voting systems. Subarticle B is entitled “Voting Machines” and is the controlling law insofar as the lever type machines utilized by Hinds County are concerned.

In Subarticle B we find Section 23-15-441 which provides in part:

“Immediately upon the close of the polls, the managers shall lock and seal the voting machine against further voting and open the counter compartment in the presence of the persons who may be lawfully present at that time giving full view of the counters. The manager shall then, in the order of the offices as their titles are arranged on the machine, read and announce in distinct tones the result as shown by the counters and shall then read the votes recorded for each office on the irregular ballots; he shall also, in the same manner, read and announce the vote on each constitutional amendment, proposition or other question. ...After the reading and announcing of the vote, and before the doors of the counter compartment of the voting machine shall be closed, ample opportunity shall be given to any person or persons lawfully present to compare the results so announced with the counters of the machine and any necessary corrections shall then and there be made by the managers or clerks. There shall be furnished two (2) copies of a statement of canvass to conform to the requirements of the voting machine or machines being used.”

Section 23-15-443 provides, in part.

“The managers and clerks shall as soon as the count is completed and fully ascertained, lock the counter compartment, and it shall so remain for a period of thirty (30) days or until it must be prepared for use in another election, except it be ordered opened by a court of competent jurisdiction...”

In response to your inquiry and based on the above statutory provisions, we are of the opinion that, absent an order from a court of competent jurisdiction to the contrary, the machines in question may lawfully be cleared and prepared for the November General Election at such time and in such manner as the Hinds County Election Commission determines to be appropriate.

The materials in the ballot boxes may, in our opinion, be removed from the boxes when said boxes are needed for another election, provided said materials are carefully and securely preserved in the office of the circuit clerk.

Very truly yours,

Mike Moore Attorney General

Phil Carter Special Assistant Attorney General.