Mississippi Advisory Opinions October 23, 1980: AGO 000002135 (October 23, 1980)

AGO 000002135.

Dear Mrs. Carpenter

Attorney General Bill Allain is in receipt of your letter of August 22, 1980, wherein you request an opinion of this office as to whether the Board of Supervisors is responsi- ble for conducting and certifying an election wherein Coun- ty Election Commissioners are to be elected.

Section 23-5-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated, as amended by Chapter 359, Laws of 1979, states as follows:

"Candidates for county election commission- er shall qualify by filing with the clerk of the board of supervisors of their res- pective counties a petition personally sig- ned by not less than fifty (50) qualified electors of the supervisors district in which they reside, requesting that they be a candidate, not less than sixty (60) days before the election and unless such peti- tion is filed within said time, their names shall not be placed upon the ballot. All candidates shall declare in writing their party affiliation, if any, to the board of supervisors, and such party affiliation shall be shown on the official ballot.

"The petition shall have attached thereto a certificate of the registrar showing the number of qualified electors on each peti- tion, which shall be furnished by the re- gistrar on request. The board shall deter- mine the sufficiency of the petition, and if the same shall contain the required num- ber of signatures and be filed within the time required, the president of the board shall certify the same to the chairman or secretary of the county election commission and the names of the candidates shall be placed upon the ballot for the ensuing e- lection.

No county election commissioner shall serve or be considered as elected unless and until he has received a majority of the votes cast for the position or post for which he is a candidate. If such majority vote is not re- ceived in the first election, then the two (2) candidates receiving the most votes for each position or post shall be placed upon the bal- lot for a second election to be held two (2) weeks later in accordance with appropriate pro- cedures followed in other elections involving runoff candidates."

Clearly, candidates for Election Commissioner are required by the above-cited provision to qualify by filing a petition with the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors (Chancery Clerk).

The Board of Supervisors is then required to determine the suf- ficiency of said petition. Should the Board determine that a candidate's petition is sufficient, this fact shall be certified by the President of the Board of Supervisors to the Chairman or Secretary of the County Election Commission and then the name of said candidate shall be placed on the ballot by the County Elec- tion Commission.

In response to your specific inquiry, after the initial determi- nation by the Board of Supervisors as to the sufficiency of the petition, the election shall be held and conducted by the County Board of Election Commissioners. However, should there arise a contest concerning the election for County Election Commissioner, such contest shall be handled by the Board of Supervisors pursu- ant to the authority contained in Section 23-5-95, Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated. Should there be no contest, then the e- lection for County Election Commissioner shall be certified by the incumbent County Election Commission.

With person regards, I am

Very truly yours,

BILL ALLAIN ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY

Donald Clark, Jr. Special Assistant Attorney General

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