Opinion ID: 1817972
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: whether harpole was prejudiced by the procedural decisions of the kemper county democratic executive committee.

Text: ¶ 26. Harpole asserts that the KCDEC committed three specific errors in the performance of its duties. Harpole maintains that he did not receive proper notice of the scheduled KCDEC hearing; that he was denied his right to a fair and impartial hearing the KCDEC's refusal to issue subpoenas in blank; and, that by the designation of a panel he was improperly denied a hearing in front of the whole of the KCDEC.
¶ 27. Harpole argues that the five (5) day notice requirement prescribed in Miss.Code Ann. § 23-15-921 was violated as he received notice on September 15 and the hearing was scheduled for September 22. Specifically, Harpole maintains that his attorney received of notice at the end of the business day on Monday, September 15, 2003. Accordingly, he excludes Tuesday and counts only four business days, including: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Monday, September 22, 2003, the day of the hearing. ¶ 28. Miss.Code Ann. § 23-15-921 reads in relevant part that: [I]t shall be the duty of the executive committee to assemble by call of the chairmen or three (3) members of said committee, notice of which contest shall be served five (5) days before said meeting. . . ¶ 29. Of equal importance in calculating the time as required by statute, Miss.Code Ann. § 1-3-67 reads: When process shall be required to be served or notice given any number of days, the day of the act, event or default from which the designated period of time begins to run shall not be included. The last day of the period so computed shall be included unless it is a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday, or any other day when the courthouse or the clerk's office is in fact closed, whether with or without legal authority, in which event the period runs until the end of the next day which is not a Saturday, a Sunday, a legal holiday, or any other day when the courthouse or the clerk's office is closed. When the period of time prescribed or allowed is less than seven (7) days, intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays shall be excluded in the computation. [5] ¶ 30. The chairman of the Executive Committee, Earl Thomas, set a hearing for Monday, September 22, 2003, at 1:00 p.m. Harpole's attorney stated in his sworn affidavit that he was served with notice of the hearing on Monday, September 15, 2003. Excluding Monday, the 15th, but counting Tuesday, the 16th, Wednesday, the 17th, Thursday, the 18th, Friday, the 19th, and Monday, the 22nd, Harpole received the required five-day statutory notice for the hearing before the KCDEC. Miss.Code Ann. § 1-3-67 clearly states that [t]he last day of the period so computed shall be included unless it is a Saturday, a Sunday or a legal holiday. The last day of the period was Monday, and, as such, counts towards time computation. Since the statutory time is less than seven days, intermediate Saturdays and Sundays are, and were, excluded in this computation. From September 15, 2003, through September 22, 2003, inclusive, there were no legal holidays to exclude. Thus, there is no merit to this assignment of error.
¶ 31. Harpole complains that his hearing rights were abridged when the KCDEC chair refused to issue subpoenas in blank. Miss.Code Ann. § 23-15-925 confers subpoena powers upon a county executive committee in election contests in order to assure that the executive committee can perform its statutory duties to investigate claims of election law violations. Section 23-15-925 states, [f]or the proper enforcement of the preceding sections the committee has the power to subpoena and, if necessary, attach witnesses needed in said investigation. ¶ 32. In ruling on this issue, Judge Smith appropriately found Harpole's argument to be without merit and stated: [Harpole] does not complain that the DEC refused to issue subpoenas on his behalf, rather he contends that the DEC refused to issue blank subpoenas to him. This Court can find nothing in the statutes that would require, or even authorize, the DEC to issue blank subpoenas. The fact that the DEC refused to issue blank subpoenas in no way infringed upon his right to have witnesses subpoenaed on his behalf to testify before the committee. ¶ 33. Harpole was not denied his right to subpoena witnessesthe KCDEC merely refused to give him blank subpoenas. This issue is without merit.
¶ 34. Harpole contends that the KCDEC acted improperly in denying him a hearing before the full committee. After giving notice to the parties and counsel concerning the September 22nd hearing, the KCDEC, by order, designated seven of its committee members to serve on this panel, plus an additional committee member was designated to serve as the secretary, but she was not a panel member. The panel proceeded to diligently perform its duties and after the hearing of September 22, 2003, entered a detailed written findings of fact, which was thereafter considered and adopted by the full committee. Miss.Code Ann. § 23-15-921 in pertinent part states that it shall be the duty of the executive committee . . . to investigate the grounds upon which the election is contested and, by majority vote of members present, declare the true results of such primary. In his written opinion, Judge Smith interpreted this language and stated: Nowhere in the statute does it specify the manner in which the committee is to conduct its investigation. In the instant case, the DEC met and designated a panel to conduct a hearing on [Harpole's] Petition. The panel conducted the investigation and held a hearing on September 22, 2003, at which time both sides were given the opportunity to present evidence. After conducting the hearing, the members of the committee unanimously declared its findings. It is the opinion of this Court that the DEC fulfilled not only the actual written statutory requirements imposed upon it, but also the spirit of fairness and justice embodied by the statutes. The DEC did not violate [Harpole's] statutory rights in the way it conducted its investigation. ¶ 35. Judge Smith appropriately found this issue to be without merit. Simply put, Judge Smith's interpretation of the statute makes good sense. Our cases are legion where we acknowledge the necessary time constraints involved in election contests so that uncertainty can become certainty and the elections can proceed. In appropriately putting this election contest on a fast track, the KCDEC at least inferentially acknowledged its full membership would experience extreme difficulty in putting their personal lives on hold while they, on short notice, dropped everything to be involved in a fairly lengthy investigative hearing to fairly consider the evidence presented. Thus, the designation of a smaller panel consisting of KCDEC members satisfied both the fast-track requirement existing in election contests, but of equal importance, such action also satisfied the fairness requirement existing in election contests so as to give full, complete and serious consideration to the contestant in an election contest. Accordingly, the KCDEC fulfilled its statutory directive and investigated all grounds included in the contest (with the exception of those excluded by its order), made preliminary findings regarding these grounds prior to the hearing, conducted an evidentiary hearing, and ultimately unanimously adopted the panel's findings rendered pursuant to the hearing. There is thus no merit in this assignment of error.