Mississippi Advisory Opinions March 23, 2001: AGO 000014299 (March 23, 2001)
Collection: Mississippi Attorney General Opinions
Docket: AGO 000014299
Date: March 23, 2001
Advisory Opinion Text
AGO 000014299.
DOCK 2001-0169
AUTH Phil Carter
DATE 20010323
RQNM Joseph Sparkman, Jr.
SUBJ Elections - Municipal
SBCD 69
TEXT Joseph M. Sparkman, Jr., Esquire
Attorney for Village of Memphis
Post Office Box 266
Southaven, Mississippi 38671-0266
Dear Mr. Sparkman:
Attorney General Mike Moore has received your letter of request and assigned it to me for research and reply. Your letter states:
FACTS: An election commissioner verbally informed the mayor the day after a special election in September, 2000 that he no longer desired to serve as an election commissioner. This communication was limited only to the mayor, which he acknowledges. However the resignation was not submitted in writing to the board of aldermen nor communicated by the mayor to the board of aldermen. The election commissioner now desires to run for an alderman position in the upcoming election.
QUERY: What constitutes an effective resignation of an election commissioner under MCA Section 23-15-217?
In response to your inquiry, please see the enclosed copy of an opinion addressed to Jimmy L. Miller, Esquire, dated January 26, 2001. In that opinion we said, inter alia, that Mississippi Code Annotated Section 23-15-217 (1) (Supp. 2000) clearly requires a definitive resignation prior to January 1 of the year in which a commissioner desires to seek another office and that, in our opinion, a "verbal resignation" would not satisfy that statutory requirement.
Sincerely,
MIKE MOORE, ATTORNEY GENERAL
By:
Phil Carter
Special Assistant Attorney General