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2009 Mississippi Attorney General Reports and Opinions 1 (2009)

handle is hein.sag/sagms0082 and id is 1 raw text is: Mississippi Attorney General Opinions

Jimmy Miller, Esquire
Office of the Attorney General
June 12, 2009
Office of the Attorney General
State of Mississippi
*1   Opinion No. 2009-00330
*1 June 12, 2009
Re: Election Commissioners
*1 Jimmy Miller, Esquire
*1 Attorneyfor City of Marks
*1 Post Office Box 209
*1 Marks, Mississippi 38646
Dear Mr. Miller:
*1 Attorney General Jim Hood received your letter of request and assigned it to me for research and reply.
*1 You present four (4) issues which we will address in the order presented.
Issue One
*1 Maythe Cityof Marks have more than three persons discharging the duties of the Citys election commission?
*1 You point out Mississippi Code Annotated Section 23-15-221 (Revised 2007) states that municipalities having less than 20,000 inhabitants
shall appoint three (3) election commissioners.
*1 You also state that the City of Marks has less than 20,000 inhabitants. You further state that the Board of Aldermen ordered and resolved to
increase the number of the current municipal election commissioners from three to five.
Response
*1 The City of Marks is statutorily limited to three (3) municipal election commissioners.
Applicable Law and Discussion
*1 It is well established that in any conflict between an ordinance and a statute, the statute must prevail. City of Amoty v. Yielding, 203 Miss. 265,
34 So .2d 726 (1948); Watkins v. Navarrette, 227 So .2d 853 (1969); MS AG Op., Stone (February 17, 1983); MS AG Op., Hedglin (April 30,
1986).
*1 Therefore, the provisions of the statute (23-15-221) that requires that the City of Marks have only three election commissioners must prevail
over a measure adopted by the board of aldermen that attempted to increase that number to five.
Issue Two
*1 May the City appoint additional persons to serve as alternate election commissioners?
Response
*1 We find no authority for the municipal governing authorities to appoint alternate election commissioners. They, of course, may make
appointments to fill any vacancy that might occur on the three member commission.
Issue Three
*1 You ask if a veto by the Mayor was done in a timely manner.
*1 The pertinent facts are that on April 7, 2009 the Board of Aldermen ordered and resolved to increase the number of municipal election
commissioners from the current number of three to a total of five. You state that the minutes of the April 7, 2009 meeting were approved on May 5,
2009 and that the Mayor delivered his written veto message to the City Clerk on May 15, 2009. You further state that the Mayor has not been
delegated the authority by the Board of Aldermen to approve the minutes.

Response

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