Judges: WILLIAM L. WEBSTER
Filed Date: 5/18/1988
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
Dear Mr. Reardon:
This opinion is in response to your questions asking:
First, does Section
115.607 .1, RSMo 1986, apply to an otherwise qualified candidate for county committee who was not a registered voter of his county and committee district for more than one year prior to the date of his election solely because such candidate has not yet attained the age of eighteen? (The candidate became eighteen and a registered voter prior to the election but not for one year prior thereto). Second, does the county election authority, based upon its determination that such candidate is not qualified, have authority to withhold the candidate's name from the primary ballot in view of the procedures set forth in Section115.526 , RSMo 1986?
Section
1. No person shall be elected or shall serve as a member of a county committee who is not, for one year next before his election, both a registered voter of and a resident of the county and the committee district from which he is elected. . . .
The language used in statutes is to be given its plain and ordinary meaning. Bartley v. Special School District of St.Louis County,
A review of the legislative history of subsection 1 supports this conclusion. When originally enacted in the Comprehensive Election Act of 1977, subsection 1 did not contain the one year requirement:
1. No person shall be elected as a member of a county committee who is not a registered voter of the county and a resident of the committee district from which he is elected. . . . Laws of Missouri 1977 H.B. 101 Section
14.010 p. 298.
The one year requirement was added by way of an amendment enacted in 1982 which changed the relevant provision of subsection 1 to appear as it does today. Laws of Missouri 1982 S.B. 526 p. 300. The fact that the language containing the one year requirement was added by amendment shows that the legislature intended a change from the original provision.O'Neil v. State,
It is presumed that the legislature, when enacting the above-referenced law, was aware that a person had to be at least eighteen years old to register to vote. In 1982, at the time of the amendment to Section
In view of the language of Section
In regard to your second question, this office is of the opinion that the election authority does have the authority to withhold the name of the candidate in question from the primary ballot. Mansur v. Morris,
The enactment of Section
The legislature is presumed to be aware of existing declarations of law by the Supreme Court when it enacts law on the same subject. State ex rel. Missey v. City of Cabool,
CONCLUSION
It is the opinion of this office that pursuant to Section
Very truly yours,
WILLIAM L. WEBSTER Attorney General
Enclosure:
Attorney General Opinion No. 87, Usrey, 1972
State Ex Rel. Gralike v. Walsh , 483 S.W.2d 70 ( 1972 )
Bartley v. Special School District of St. Louis County , 649 S.W.2d 864 ( 1983 )
State Ex Rel. Missey v. City of Cabool , 441 S.W.2d 35 ( 1969 )
City of Nevada v. Bastow , 328 S.W.2d 45 ( 1959 )
Mansur v. Morris , 355 Mo. 424 ( 1946 )