Mississippi Advisory Opinions April 06, 1983: 19830406 (April 06, 1983)

Advisory Opinion Text

Honorable Miriam M. Cook

Circuit Clerk

Oktibbeha County Courthouse

Starkville, Mississippi 39759

Elections - Qualification of Candidates

Dear Mrs. Cook:

Attorney General Allain has received your letter of request and has assigned it to me for research and reply.

Your letter states:

“My question now is as follows: Can a candidate withdraw his name after filling the affidavit with the proper party, and, if so, can that same person, at a later date, prior to the final date for filing as a candidate, re-qualify with the proper party, and his name be placed on the ballot as a candiate?”

Mississippi Code Annotated § 3118.7 (1942) found in the 1982 Supplement to Volume 6 of the 1972 Code at Page 297 provides:

“When any person has qualified in the manner provided by law as a candidate for party nomination in any primary election such person shall have the right to withdraw his name as a candidate by giving notice of his withdrawal in writing to the secretary of the proper executive committee at any time prior to the printing of the official ballots, and in the event of such withdrawal the name of such candidate shall not be printed on the ballot. When a candidate for party nomination for a state or district office who has qualified with the state executive committee withdraws as a candidate as is herein set forth after the “sample of the official ballot has been approved and certified by the state executive committee the secretary or chairman of the state executive committee shall forthwith notify the county executive committee of each county affected or involved of the fact of such withdrawal and such notification shall authorize said county executive committees to omit the name of the withdrawn candidate from the ballot if such notification is received prior to the printing of the ballot. In the case of the withdrawal of any candidate the fee paid by such candidate shall be retained by the state or county executive committee, as the case may be.”

In response to your inquiry, the above statute sets forth the procedure by which one may withdraw his name as a candidate in a primary election.

We know of nothing which would prohibit a person from withdrawing his / her name as a candidate and then, at a later date, qualifying a second time with the proper executive committee which would then have his / her name placed on the ballot provided such person possesses the requisite personal qualifications to hold the office in question and further provided that he / she qualifies with said executive committee prior to the deadline for such qualification.

Very truly yours,

Bill Allain, Attorney General.