Mississippi Advisory Opinions April 07, 1988: 19880407 (April 07, 1988)

Advisory Opinion Text

Honorable Walter Brown

Natchez City Attorney

Post Office Box 963

Natchez, Mississippi 39120

Dear Mr. Brown:

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

A question has arisen as to the eligibility of municipal voters to participate in the Super Tuesday primaries on March 8 and thereafter in the municipal primaries on May 10 and May 24.

Specifically, the question is whether or not a voter may participate in the Republican primary on Super Tuesday and thereafter participate in the Democratic primary in the city election on May 10.

Pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. § 23-15-575 (1987), a qualified elector is eligible to participate in a primary election only if he intends to support the nominations made in the primary in which he participates. While recent participation in a primary election of another party may provide grounds for challenging a particular person's participation pursuant to this statute, this statute does not automatically preclude a person from changing his party allegiance from one election to another.

There is, however, a statutory prohibition to ‘crossover’ voting. Crossover voting may be defined as participation in the first primary of one political party and participation in the runoff primary of another party. Several Attorney General's opinions and case law has defined the first and second primary as one election process. The runoff primary has been described as a continuation of the first primary. Therefore, Miss. Code Ann. § 97-13-35 (1972), which prohibits participation in more than one primary on the same day, has been interpreted to prohibit crossover voting. This statutory prohibition does not, however, prohibit the participation in the congressional primaries on March 8, 1988, for one party, and subsequent participation in the municipal primaries on May 10 and May 24, 1988, for another political party because they are different elections.

Hopefully you will find this responsive to your request. Should you have any questions or if we may be of further assistance, please do not hesitiate to contact this office.

Sincerely,

Mike Moore Attorney General.

John H. Emfinger Special Assistant Attorney General.