Mississippi Advisory Opinions July 14, 1987: AGO 000007963 (July 14, 1987)
Collection: Mississippi Attorney General Opinions
Docket: AGO 000007963
Date: July 14, 1987
Advisory Opinion Text
AGO 000007963.
DOCK 1987-355
AUTH Catherine Walker Underwood
DATE 19870714
RQNM Honorable John L. Hatcher
SUBJ Election-Commissioner
SBCD 64
TEXT Honorable John L. Hatcher
Bolivar County Election Commissioners
Post Office Box 1495
Cleveland, Mississippi 38732
Dear Mr. Hatcher:
Attorney General Edwin Lloyd Pittman has received your request for an opinion from this office and has incorporated by attached reference your letter of request which asks:
(1) Can the Election Commissioner in this case continue to serve in such capacity when his wife is a candidate for Trustee of a consolidated school district at the general election on November 3, 1987, without violating Section 23-15-217, or any other laws?
(2) If your answer to the above question is in the affirmative and the wife is elected at such general election, can the husband and wife serve in their respective capacities as Election Commissioner and School Board Trustee without violating any of the constitutional or statutory provisions regarding conflict of interest?
In response to your questions, a review of Miss. Code Ann. 23-15-217 (Special Election Pamphlet 1986) reveals no requirement that an election commissioner not have a relative as a candidate for the office of trustee of a consolidated school disdrict.
We do not know of any prohibition against the holding of the office of election commissioner and the simultaneous holding of the office of school trustee by the commissioner's spouse.
We trust the above satisfactory response to your inquiries.
Sincerely yours,
EDWIN LLOYD PITTMAN, ATTORNEY GENERAL
BY Catherine Walker Underwood Assistant Attorney General
CWU:mfd