Mississippi Advisory Opinions November 11, 1975: 1975-0015 (November 11, 1975)

Advisory Opinion Text

Mrs. Sallie Gough

Jones County Purchase Clerk

P. O. Box 1468

Laurel, Mississippi 39440

Dear Mrs. Gough:

Attorney General Summer has received your letter of request dated October 29, 1975, and has assigned it to me fow research and reply.

You submit the following, to-wit:

“Due to an error in the copy which was delivered to the printer who has the bid to supply our election ballots, a portion of the ballots had to be reprinted. This, of course, increased his expenses. My question is, 'How should we go about reimbursing him since this will cause his fee to be higher than the accepted bid price'?”

Section 23-5-119, Mississippi Code 1972, provides, in part, “It shall be the duty of the chairman of the election commission of each county to have printed all necessary ballots for use in elections. . . .”.

Section 23-5-123, Mississippi Code 1972, provides, in part, “The ballots in all elections shall be printed and distributed at the public expense, and shall be known as 'official ballots.' The expense of printing such ballots shall be paid out of the county treasury, . . .”.

We do not find that the election commissioners are required to advertise for bids for the printing of ballots, however, the price must, of course, be reasonable under the circumstances and the county would be required to pay the reasonable cost involved.

With kindest regards, Very truly yours,

A. F. Summer, Attorney General