TUPELO • Uncertainty over a new residency requirement for municipal elections has now yielded litigation that could have statewide consequences.
A recent opinion from the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office interpreted a 2019 law to mean that candidates for municipal offices must have been a resident of the ward and the municipality they’re wishing to represent for two years, which clashed with previous interpretation of the law.
The opinion was issued days before the qualifying deadline and has caused some candidates to drop out of races, while election commissioners and party committees have struggled with questions about whether to certify certain other candidates.
Zack Grady, a Republican candidate for the D’Iberville City Council, filed an election challenge in Harrison County Circuit Court against Craig “Boots” Diaz, his primary opponent, and the D'Iberville municipal Republican executive committee for disqualifying him from his race and failing to certify him for the upcoming Republican primary.
The lawsuit states that when Grady initially registered to run for city council, city employees believed he was qualified to run based on the election training they received.
“On the evening of the qualifying deadline, though, the Republican executive committee came together and told him that we’ve decided that you’re not qualified pretty much based on the attorney general’s opinion that came out on Feb. 1,” said Malcolm Jones, Grady’s attorney.
Jones, who is also the city attorney for Waveland and Pass Christian, said that Grady has lived in D’Iberville for more than 10 years, but he and his family a year and a half ago moved into his wife’s childhood home, which caused him to change wards.
Jones believes the attorney general’s opinion inaccurately interpreted the law, and the suit asks the court to have Grady’s name placed on the ballot for the Republican primary on April 6.
Steve Eckert, an attorney based in Biloxi, is representing the executive committee. He said because he only recently agreed to represent the committee he could not comment on the specifics of the case, but said the Republican committee’s full intention is to ensure election law is followed in this instance.
Fred "Dub" Horsnby, the city attorney for D'Iberville, said he believed two members of the local GOP executive committee resigned over the decision to disqualify Grady from the primary and that the city agreed to reimburse the committee for all legal fees related to the election challenge.
The challenge comes at a time when several candidates running for local offices throughout the state have either suspended their campaigns or expressed dismay that the attorney general’s office issued the opinion as close to the qualifying deadline as it did.
Even though the suit was filed outside of Northeast Mississippi, the judge’s ruling on the challenge could set a precedent throughout the state and be used as a template by other judges if forced to weigh in on the issue.
In Northeast Mississippi, three candidates for the Oxford Board of Aldermen have dropped out of local races and the eligibility of one candidate, Afton Thomas, is still in question over the uncertainty of the residency requirements.
The Oxford Election Commission has yet to receive mandatory election training, so they have delayed certifying candidates.
The Mississippi Legislature is also attempting to clarify the state’s election laws to say that candidates for municipal office only need to be resident in the city for two years, not an individual ward.
House Bill 195, which seeks to clarify the residency requirement, passed the House 110-6. It has been referred to the elections and municipalities committees in the Senate.
Because of the conflicting opinions and confusion that has resulted from the attorney general’s opinion, either the court will need to rule on the issue or the Legislature vote to change the law to provide clarity.
The chief justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court appointed Jeff Weill to serve as a special judge for the election challenge in D’Iberville. Weill on Thursday issued an order giving the executive committee and Diaz until Sunday, Feb. 28 to file briefings to respond to Grady’s election challenge.
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February 26, 2021 at 04:15AM
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AG residency requirement opinion produces election challenge | Local News | djournal.com - Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal
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