Mississippi Advisory Opinions June 20, 1983: AGO 000003638 (June 20, 1983)

Mississippi Attorney General Opinions

1983.

AGO 000003638.

1983-257

---

Dear Mr. Eastridge:

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

"Under the above referenced Code Section, I understand that the appropriate assessment shall be paid to the secretary of the executive committee of the political party with which the candidate is affiliated by no later than 11:59:59 p.m., (60) sixty days before the date set by law for the election. The candidate in question filed the proper AFFIDAVIT BY CANDIDATE with the Circuit Clerk (as per 23-3-3, Miss. Code 1972) at approximately 10:30 a.m. on 3 June 1983; however, did not pay the assessment (qualifying fee) to the secretary of the Democratic Executive Committee, until 8 June, 1983, being some

"My question is this: (1) Is that candidate properly qualified to have name placed on the ballot and (2) is it a decision to be made by tile county executive committee?"

Mississippi Code Annotated, 3120 (1942) as amended by Chapter 566, Laws of 1962, fixes the qualifying fees for candidates for party nominations. It provides:

"All candidates upon entering the race for party nominations for office shall first pay to the secretary of the proper executive committee of their political party for each primary election the following amounts:

(a)Candidates for Governor and United States Senator, not to exceed Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00).

(b)Candidates for United States Representative, Lieutenant Governor, Supreme Court Judge, Attorney General, Secretary of State, State Treasurer, Auditor of Public Accounts, Commissioner of Insurance, Superintendent of Public Education, State Tax Collector, Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce, State Land Commissioner, State Highway Commissioner, State Public Service Commissioner, and State Supreme Court Clerk, not to exceed Two Hundred Dollars ($200.00).

(c)Candidates for Circuit Judge, Chancellor, and District Attorney, not to exceed One Hundred Dollars ($100.00).

(d)Candidates for State Senator, State Representative, County Judge, Sheriff, Chancery Clerk, Circuit Clerk, Tax Assessor, County Attorney, County Superintendent of Education, and Board of Supervisors, not to exceed Fifteen Dollars ($15.00).

(e)Candidates for County Surveyor, County Coroner, Ranger, Justice of the Peace, Constable, and County Board of Education, not to exceed Ten Dollars ($10.00)."

Section 3121, Code of 1942 as amended by Chapter 567, Laws of 1962 governs when and to whom such assessments are paid.

It provides: "The assessment made in preceding section under subsections (1) and (2) shall be paid by each candidate therein named by five o'clock P.M. sixty (60) days before the date fixed by law for the primary election, to the secretary of the state executive committee of the political party with which the candidate is affiliated; those in subsection (3) shall be paid by each candidate to the secretary of the executive committee of the party in which the candidate is affiliated in the proper senatorial or flotorial district, and those in subsections (4) and (5) shall be paid by each candidate therein named to the secretary of the county executive committee of the party with which the said candidate is affiliated."

In response to your first question, a person who failed to pay the appropriate qualifying fee by 5 p.m., Friday, June 3, 1983, is not properly qualified and may not have his/her name placed on the ballot for the August primary election.

In response to your second question, county executive committees have no authority to place names of persons who have not made timely payments of the required qualifying fees on the ballot for the primary elections.

Very truly yours,

BILL ALLAIN, ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY

Phillip C. Carter Special Assistant Attorney General

PCC:mfd