Mississippi Advisory Opinions July 12, 1989: AGO 000004800 (July 12, 1989)

AGO 000004800.

Dear Mr. Gore:

Attorney General Mike Moore has received your letter of request and has assigned it to me for research and reply. A copy of your letter is attached for reference.

The basic question is whether the County Board of Supervisors has the authority to pay a Deputy Circuit Clerk for assisting the county election commission (the commission) in revising the voter registration lists.

The applicable code sections are cited in your letter. Mississippi Code Annotated 23-15-153 (1) (Supp. 1988) provides in part:

"At the following times the commissioners of election shall meet at the office of the registrar and carefully revise the registration books and the pollbooks of the several voting precincts, and shall erase therefrom the names of all persons erroneously thereon, or who have died, removed or become disqualified as electors from any cause; ...."

Section 23-15-219 provides in part:

"(1) The board of election commissioners is hereby authorized and empowered to employ and set or determine the duties of and determine the compensation of such investigators, legal counsel, secretaries, technical advisors and any other employees or persons who or which said board or a majority thereof may deem necessary to enable them to discharge the duties and obligations presently or hereafter vested in them. However, before employing such persons or setting or determining said compensation, the election commissioners must first have the approval of the board of supervisors of the county.

(2) The board of supervisors of the county is authorized and empowered to pay out of the general fund of the county the salaries and necessary traveling and subsistence expenses of said employees of said board of commissioners in such amounts as may be mutually agreed upon by the said board of supervisors and said board of election commissioners, but which shall be computed on the same basis allowed to state employees when traveling on state business...."

Section 23-15-161 provides:

"The registrar shall attend the meetings of the commissioners, and shall furnish them the registration books and the pollbooks, and shall render them all needed assistance of which he is capable in the performance of their duties in revising the list of qualified electors." (emphasis added)

Section 23-15-225 (3) provides:

"As compensation for their services in assisting the county election commissioners in performance of their duties in the revision of the registration books and the pollbooks of the several voting precincts of the several counties and in assisting the election commissioners, executive committees or boards of supervisors in connection with any election, the registrar shall receive the same daily per diem and limitation on meeting days as provided for the board of election commissioners as set out in Sections 23-15-153 and 23-15-227, to be paid from the general fund of the county."

Section 23-15-113 provides:

"The registration books are to be in the following form: Files shall contain copies of the applications for registration completed by electors, which applications shall show the date of registration and signature of elector, and such files shall be known as registration books. The files described herein may be recorded on microfilm or computer software for convenience and efficiency in storage." (emphasis added) Section 23-15-125 provides in part:

"The pollbook of each voting precinct shall have printed or written at the top of each page words to designate the voting precinct for which it is to be used, and shall be ruled in appropriate columns, with printed or written headings, as follows: ......"

From a reading of the above quoted statutes, it is apparent that: 1) it is the duty and responsibility of the commission to remove the names of individuals who have become disqualified as electors of the county from the registration books and pollbooks; 2) the registration books consist of copies of the application forms completed by the electors; 3) the pollbooks consist of printed pages containing the information required by section 23-15-125; and 4) the circuit clerk as county registrar has the duty to attend the meetings of the commission and provide assistance "of which he is capable" to the commissioners in their purging activities.

It is also apparent to this office that once the commission as a whole has made the factual determinations that certain individuals have become disqualified as electors the administrative task of actually removing the names of those individuals from the registration books and the most current pollbooks may be performed by: 1) the commissioners themselves; 2) by the registrar either personally or through a deputy; or 3) by an individual employed pursuant to section 23-15-219.

In response to your specific inquiry, if a deputy registrar acting in his official capacity on behalf of the registrar provides assistance pursuant to section 23-15-161 and performs the ministerial task in question, said deputy would be compensated by the registrar and not by the board of supervisors. If, however, the commission upon approval of the board of supervisors employs a deputy registrar to perform this task pursuant to section 23-15-219, said deputy would be paid out of the county general fund.

Obviously, if the registrar because of the other pressing duties of his office is not capable, either personally or through a deputy, of providing this type of assistance and the commission lawfully employs a deputy registrar to perform the task, said deputy would necessarily be required to work for the commission during hours for which he is not being paid by the registrar.

We would also add that, in our opinion, if the data from the registration books and/or the pollbooks is stored in a computer in the registrar's office, the registrar would be required to delete the names of individuals from the computer in accordance with the determinations made by the commission.

Sincerely yours,

MIKE MOORE, ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY:_________________________________

PHIL CARTER SPECIAL ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL

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