Mississippi Advisory Opinions July 01, 1993: AGO 000006840 (July 1, 1993)

AGO 000006840.

Dear Mr. Crowe:

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

"Mound Bayou is a Code Charter Municipality, and historically all candidates for office have qualified and ran as independents. I have search the records and found that for all municipal elections, general, special, and other held at least as early as 1920, and earlier, the election commissioners have been appointed prior to each election, and not for a term of office.

What is the law? Are municipal election commissioners suppose to be appointed for a four-year term to run concurrently with other officers? The statute is silent in this regard and is not made to appear. If the governing authorities of the City of Mound Bayou appoints commissioners for a four-year term at their organization meeting in July, 1993, would this constitute a change in respect to voting which would necessitate a submission to the U.S. Attorney General under the Voting Rights Act of 1965?"

In response to your first question please see the enclosed copy of an opinion addressed to Honorable Henry P. Davis, Jr., dated September 26, 1977. In summary that opinion states that municipal election commissioners are officers who serve terms of four years to run with the terms of office of the municipal governing authorities.

This office does not interpret federal law by way of an official opinion. However, in regard to your second question and as a matter of information we offer the following comment. In Perkins v. Matthews, 400 U.S. 379, 27 L.Ed 2d 476 (1971) the U.S. Supreme Court held that a change in practice by a local political subdivision to conform to state law is subject to the submission requirements of the Voting Rights Act.

Sincerely,

MIKE MOORE, ATTORNEY GENERAL

BY: Phil Carter Assistant Attorney General

PC:mfd Enclosure