Could town employees work the polls in a municipal election involving their council employers?

Plain-English summary

Mount Pleasant asked whether municipal employees could serve as paid poll workers in elections involving councilmembers who oversaw town staff and budgets. The AG found no state law disqualifying town employees from serving as poll managers or clerks.

The opinion distinguished the express state rule barring candidates and certain relatives from serving at a polling place where the candidate appeared on the ballot. It found no parallel rule for municipal employees. Its answer remained conditional: a local ordinance or personnel policy might prohibit their service.

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2007. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Common questions

Q: Did state law bar town employees from serving as municipal poll workers? A: The AG said no state law it found imposed that disqualification.

Q: Did an election involving their council employers change the answer? A: The opinion still found no state law ban based on that relationship.

Q: Could Mount Pleasant impose its own restriction?
A: The AG said a town ordinance or possibly a personnel policy could prevent employees from serving.

Background and statutory framework

The AG read municipal election procedures with title 7 election rules. It contrasted the specific restriction on candidates and relatives with the absence of an equivalent rule for municipal workers.

Citations and references

The opinion discussed section 5-15-100 and Section 7-13-120.

Source

• Landing page: https://www.scag.gov/opinions/opinions-archive/june-1-2007-1/
• Original PDF: https://www.scag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/young-r-a-6-1-07-os-8391-poll-workers.pdf

Original opinion text

June 1, 2007

R. Allen Young, Esquire
Town Attorney, Town of Mount Pleasant
Post Office Box 745
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina 29465
Dear Mr. Young:
We understand you wish to request an opinion on behalf of Harry M. Hallman, Mayor of the Town of Mount Pleasant (the “Town”), concerning the eligibility of Town employees to serve as poll workers for municipal elections. In your letter, you state: Please know that in the past our Mount Pleasant Election Commission has experienced a shortage of citizens/volunteers to act as poll workers at our Municipal elections. As such, Town employees have volunteered/been drafted to so act. These employees received compensation as poll workers, in addition to an administrative day off with pay from the Town. Thus, you ask this Office “whether these municipal employees can legally act as poll workers in our municipal elections”? Further, you add that “[c]ouncilmembers (elected officials) are responsible for all municipal employees and, in fact, approve all budgets, with the salaries of all employees therein. As such, can Mount Pleasant employees be poll workers in elections involving current Councilmembers and future Councilmembers?” Law/Analysis We presume by use of the term “poll workers” you are referring to poll managers appointed by the municipal election commission as set forth in section 5-15-100 of the South Carolina Code (2004). Neither section 5-15-100, nor any other provision contained in chapter 15 of title 5 governing the conduct of municipal elections contains a provision specifying the qualifications of a poll manager. However, given that the provisions of title 7 are applicable to municipal elections, we look to the provisions contained in that title for guidance on who may act as a poll manager. See S.C. Code Ann. § 5-15-10 (2004) (“Municipal primary, general and special elections shall be conducted pursuant to Title 7, mutatis mutandi, except as otherwise provided for specifically in Chapters 1 through 17.”). Section 7-13-120 of the South Carolina Code (1976) prohibits candidates

Mr. Young
Page 2
June 1, 2007
and their relatives from serving as poll managers or clerks of election “at a polling place where such candidate’s name appears on the ballot.” However, in our review of the provisions contained in title 7, we did not discover a similar provision prohibiting employees of a municipality from serving as managers or clerks of election. Furthermore, in an opinion of this Office issued in 1971, we considered whether state or county employees may serve as poll managers and clerks. Op. S.C. Atty. Gen., January 11, 1971. In that opinion, we found “no South Carolina law which would make a county or state employee ineligible to work at the polls as a manager or a clerk in a general election.” Id. While this opinion did not address municipal employees, based on our research finding no State law prohibiting their service as poll managers or clerks, we believe the same to be true for municipal employees. Thus, unless the Town of Mount Pleasant has an ordinance, or possibly a personnel policy preventing its employees from serving as poll workers or clerks, we are of the opinion that State law does not prohibit such service. Very truly yours, Henry McMaster Attorney General

By:

REVIEWED AND APPROVED BY:

______
Robert D. Cook
Assistant Deputy Attorney General

Cydney M. Milling
Assistant Attorney General