Mississippi Advisory Opinions September 19, 1985: 19850919 (September 19, 1985)

Advisory Opinion Text

Ms. Nancy Sulser

Secretary of State's Office

401 Mississippi Street

Post Office Box 136

Jackson, Mississippi 39205

Dear Ms. Sulser:

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

Your letter states:

“I am writing to request a legal opinion concerning the wording of the qualifications given in Section 42, Constitution of the State of Mississippi, for State Senator.

“In your opinion does, '. . . an actual resident of the district or territory he may be chosen to represent for two years before his election'

mean that in order to qualify to be a candidate for the State Senate, that a candidate must have resided in the district or territory the two years immediately preceding his election?

“I will appreciate any immediate consideration to this request, since multicounty legislative candidates must qualify with this office and a special election will be held before the end of the year.”

Sections 41 and 42 of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 which set forth the qualifications of members of the House of Representatives and the Senate respectively provide in their entirety:

“SECTION 41. No person shall be a member of the house of representatives who shall not have attained the age of twenty-one years, and who shall not be a qualified elector of the state, and who shall not have been a resident citizen of the state four years, and of the county two years, immediately preceding his election . The seat of a member of the house of representatives shall be vacated on his removal from the county or flotorial district from which he was elected.” (Emphasis added)

“SECTION 42. No person shall be a senator who shall not have attained the age of twenty-five years, who shall not have been a qualified elector of the state four years, and who shall not be an actual resident of the district or territory he may be chosen to represent for two years before his election . The seat of a senator shall be vacated upon his removal from the district from which he was elected.” (Emphasis added)

We find no rationale for the proposition that members of the House of Representatives must be resident citizens of the county they seek to represent for two years immediately preceding their election while members of the Senate are only required to have resided in their district for a total of two years regardless of the proximity of those years to the election.

Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that the phrase “two years before his election” in Section 42, supra , means the two years immediately preceding the election.

Very truly yours,

Edwin Lloyd Pittman, Attorney General.