Mississippi Advisory Opinions February 01, 1982: 19820201 (February 01, 1982)

Advisory Opinion Text

Honorable Haley Barbour

City Attorney for Yazoo City

Post Office Box 960

Yazoo City, Mississippi 39194

Re: Elections — Municipal

Dear Mr. Barbour:

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

Your letter states:

“The City of Yazoo City, operating under its private charter, will hold its municipal general election on Monday, April 5, 1982. The party primaries will be held on Monday, March 8, 1982, to be followed, if necessary, by primary run-offs on Monday, March 15.

“Our Code calls for us to follow the state's election and qualifying procedures. Please advise me as to the proper filing deadlines for candidates for party nominations and independent candidates for the municipal elections. It is my belief that the filing deadline for party candidates is thirty (30) days prior to the March 8 primaries, and the filing deadline for independent candidates is sixty (60) days prior to the April 5 general election. I would appreciate your either confirming that or correcting me.

“I also request that you advise me as to how many names are required on the petition for independent candidates for the office of Mayor and for the offices of aldermen. The City has a population of approximately 12, 000 with a total of 6, 000 plus registered voters. Each of the four (4) aldermen is elected by ward, and each ward has approximately one-fourth of the City's population and registered voters.”

Considering that Yazoo City's private charter calls for the municipality to follow the State's election and qualifying procedures, the responses are as set out below:

The deadline for party candidates is set out in Section 3152, Appendix A to the 1981 Supplement to Volume 6 of the Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated (the “Code”), which provides in pertinent part:

Ҥ 3152. Municipal primary elections; how held.

Nominations for all municipal officers which are elective shall be made at a primary election, or elections, to be held in the manner prescribed by law. ... The names of all persons desiring to be a candidate for the nomination in the primary elections shall be furnished to the municipal executive committee of the party to which such person belongs, at least thirty (30) days prior to the first primary election. ...”

The filing date for independent candidates and the number of names required for their petitions are found in Section 23-5-134 of the Code, which provides in pertinent part:

“ § 23-5-134 . Ballots—contents—exceptions.

... The commissioner shall also have printed on the ballot in any general or special election the name of any candidate who, not having been nominated by a political party, shall have been requested to be a candidate for any office by a petition filed with said commissioner, not less than sixty (60) days prior to the election, and signed by not less than the following number of qualified electors:

... (e) For an office elected by the qualified electors of a county, a senatorial or representative district, or a municipality having a population of one thousand (1, 000) or more, not less than fifty (50) qualified electors.

(f) For an office elected by the qualified electors of a supervisors district or a municipality having a population of less than one thousand (1, 000), not less than fifteen (15) qualified electors.

(2) Unless the petition required above shall be filed not less than sixty (60) days prior to the election, the name of the person requested to be a candidate, unless nominated by a political party, shall not be placed upon the ballot. ...”

Additionally, reference is made to the attached copy of a letter of January 26, 1978, to Mayor Floyd E. Johnson of Yazoo City which states in part:

“...It is understood that the candidates in the Yazoo City municipal elections will be for the offices of mayor and four aldermen and that aldermen are to be elected for each of four wards; further, that each alderman will be elected for a ward by the vote of electors of that ward only.

“Given these facts, it is the opinion of this office that for an elector to qualify as an independent candidate for the office of Yazoo City alderman the names on the electors' petition must be those of qualified electors of the particular ward for which the petitioner is a candidate.

“Previous opinions issued by this office on this matter were based on the unique facts and circumstances of each case and any such opinions interpreted as being contrary to this opinion are hereby overruled. ...”

Incidentally, there are in the office of the Yazoo City municipal clerk two copies of “Guide to Municipal Elections, ” Revised Edition, 1981, which may be helpful to you.

With kind regards, I am

Very truly yours,

Bill Allain Attorney General