Mauldin, 051172 MSAGO, 1972-0008

• Case Date: May 11, 1972
• Court: Mississippi

Honorable Byrd P. Mauldin No. 1972-0008 Mississippi Attorney General Opinions May 11, 1972          Honorable Byrd P. Mauldin          Attorney at Law          Pontotoc, Mississippi 38863          Dear Mr. Mauldin:          I have your letter of April 24, 1972, in which you state:

“Please forward me any information or bulletin you have on holding elections. “I am particularly interested in a special election being held in the City of Pontotoc.”

         With respect to an election information bulletin, I am happy to enclose herewith an outline for the June 6 primary election which I trust will be of value to you.          With respect to a special municipal election, the following information is respectfully furnished.          Section 3293, Mississippi Code of 1942, Recompiled and Amended, which was last amended on May 10, 1966, was repealed by Section 2, Chapter 494, Laws of 1971 on April 5, 1971. Up until this statute was repealed, it provided for the filling of vacancies in municipal offices.          Apparently, Section 21-11-9 Code 1972 Mississippi Code of 1942, Recompiled, was amended by Section 1, Chapter 494, Laws of 1971, approved April 5, 1971, to take the place of repealed Section 3293, supra. I enclose a photocopy of Section 21-11-9 Code 1972 supra, for your ready reference.          However, you will note the underlined language of Section 21-11-9 supra, beginning with the word “Under” being the second word from the right margin in the 14th line from the top and ending with the word “commission” appearing five words from the right margin in the 19th line from the top, refars to enactments contained in the open primary law of 1970. This law was held by the federal court in the case of Evers v. State Board of Election Commissioners, 327 F.Supp. 640, to be ineffective and of no force and effect. For this reason, it is my opinion that this part of Section 21-11-9 supra, is of no force and effect, being a reference to enactments held by the court to be ineffective.          With respect, therefore, to how a Candidate may have his or her name placed upon the special municipal election ballot, one must refer to Section 3260, Mississippi Code of 1942, Recompiled, as appears in the main volume and subsections (e) or (f), whichever is applicable based upon population. Section 3260 as appears in the main volume, supra, applies since the...