Tennessee Advisory Opinions January 01, 2008: TN Att. Gen. Op. 08-83

Collection: Tennessee Attorney General Opinions
Date: Jan. 1, 2008

Advisory Opinion Text

S T A T E O F T E N N E S S E E
OFFICE OF THE
ATTORNEY GENERAL PO BOX 20207 NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE 37202

April 3, 2008

Opinion No. 08-83

Prohibition in Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-12-201_ QUESTION Whether the prohibition contained in Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-12-201(a)(1) applies to the grandchildren of county election commission members?

OPINION No.

ANALYSIS Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-12-201(a)(1) states as follows:

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b), the commission shall appoint an administrator of elections who shall be the chief administrative officer of the commission and who shall be responsible for the daily operations of the office and the execution of all elections. These duties include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1) Employment of all office personnel; registrars at large may not employ, except in the event of an emergency, members of the county election commission, or spouse, parents, siblings or children of commission members as clerical assistants, absentee voting deputies, poll officials or as members of the absentee counting board, however, upon adoption of a resolution by two-thirds (2/3) vote of the county legislative body of any county having a population of not less than fifteen thousand nine hundred (15,900) nor more than sixteen thousand two hundred (16,200) according to the 1990 census or any subsequent federal census, such relatives may be employed to work on election day and during the early voting period in such county if the county election commission unanimously approves their

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employment, and members of the county election commission may be employed to work during the early voting period in such county to supervise the activities of those persons employed to work during such period; nor may they hire after July 1, 1999, their spouse, parents, siblings or children as full-time or part-time clerical assistants, deputies, or as members of the absentee counting board.

By its plain language, the prohibition on employment contained in Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-12-201(a)(1) only applies to the spouses, parents, siblings and children of county election commissioners, as well as the commissioners themselves. Accordingly, employment of the grandchildren of commission members by a county administrator of elections is not prohibited by

Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-12-201(a)(1).

ROBERT E. COOPER, JR.
Attorney General and Reporter

BARRY TURNER Deputy Attorney General

Requested by:

The Honorable William A. Baird State Representative 202 War Memorial Building Nashville, TN 37243-0136

JANET M. KLEINFELTER
Senior Counsel

Tenn. Code Ann. § 2-12-201(b)(2) similarly prohibits the employment of county election commissioners, their spouses, parents, siblings and children as administrators or clerical assistants in counties having a population of not less than 825,000 nor more than 830,000.