Oregon Advisory Opinions November 22, 1944: OAG 44-169 (November 22, 1944)

Oregon Attorney General Opinions

1944.

OAG 44-169.

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64

Conviction of felony does not disqualify for appointment as notary public after judgment on such conviction has been fully satisfied.

Conviction of violation of either section 23-708, 23-709 or 23-710, O. C. L. A., constitutes an exception to the above rule.

Dear Governor: You have asked this office for an opinion upon the following question:

Is an Oregon resident who has been convicted of a felony, sentenced to the state penitentiary and satisfied the judgment by serving his time in full, qualified for appointment as a notary public in this state?

Section 96-101, O. C. L. A., provides the only qualifications for such appointment that I find in the Oregon statutes. Such qualifications are therein stated as follows:

"* * * Every person appointed as a notary public must, at the time of appointment, be of the age of twenty-one years and a citizen of the United States and of the State of Oregon. * * *"

It is also therein provided that notaries public "shall be considered state officers".

Every resident of this state who meets the above qualifications may be appointed a notary public unless his right to hold a state office has been forfeited by the application of some provision of law.

Section 23-101, O. C. L. A., subdivision 5, makes the conviction of a crime punishable by

"(5) Disqualification to hold and enjoy any office of honor, trust, or profit under the constitution or laws of this state."

By the enactment of what is now identified as section 23-711, O. C. L. A., the legislature has made mandatory such punishment upon a conviction of the violation of sections 23-708, 23-709 and 23-710, O. C. L. A. Each of the latter sections relate to unlawful acts in connection with actual voting at general elections in this state. It follows that every person convicted of the crimes defined in such sections of the Compiled Laws is disqualified from being appointed a notary public.

There is no provision of law which provides the punishment above mentioned other than section 23-711, O. C. L. A.

Subject to the exception hereinabove stated, it is my opinion that your inquiry must be answered in the affirmative.

In arriving at such conclusion I have considered the fact that section 3, Article II, of the constitution, forfeits such person's privilege of an elector, and that section 23-1406. O. C. L. A., suspended his civil rights during the time the judgment by which his punishment was inflicted remained unsatisfied.