Mississippi Advisory Opinions November 09, 1995: AGO 000011118 (November 9, 1995)

AGO 000011118.

Dear Mr. Blackmon:

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

"I am enclosing a copy of a letter I have sent to the Election Commissioner of Madison County, Mississippi. The letter addresses the issues of whether or not photocopied absentee ballots with no initial from a duly authorized officer of the Election Commission can be legally cast and counted by the voter in the November 7, 1995 General Election. I am requesting an opinion from the Attorney General's Office regarding the legalities of this."

In our prior opinion addressed to Honorable James Breland, Dated December 20, 1994 (copy enclosed) we opined that the initialing requirement for paper ballots does not apply to absentee ballots.

In regard to the legality of photocopied absentee ballots, it appears that the most analogous statutory provisions are found in Mississippi Code Annotated, Section 23-15-371 (Revised 1990). It provides in part:

".... . If from any cause there should be no official ballots or an insufficient number at a voting place, and not sufficient time in which to have them printed, the ballots may be written; but, if written by anyone except the voter alone for himself, the names of all candidates shall be written thereon, without any mark or device by which one name may be distinguished from another, and such ballots shall be marked by the voter as provided for printed ballots. ... ."

The above quoted provisions, although not specifically applicable to absentee ballots, appears to be indicative of a general policy on a cognate subject matter and would, in our opinion, authorize a county election commission to utilize photocopies as official ballots when there is a shortage of the printed ballots and there is insufficient time to have additional ballots printed. See Lopez v. Holleman, 69 So. 2d 903 (Miss. 1954). To say otherwise would likely disenfranchise eligible absent voters. Obviously, proper measures must be taken to account for all ballots, used and unused, including any photocopied ballots.

Sincerely,

MIKE MOORE ATTORNEY GENERAL

By:

Phil Carter Special Assistant Attorney General

PC:sm Enclosure