MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Apportionment and Elections

By: Representative Denny

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-211, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT A FOUR-DAY TRAINING SEMINAR SHALL BE INCLUDED IN THE SIX DAYS OF TRAINING PER YEAR FOR ELECTION COMMISSIONERS; TO PROVIDE THAT THE FOUR-DAY SEMINAR SHALL BE CONDUCTED AND SPONSORED BY THE MISSISSIPPI JUDICIAL COLLEGE; TO REQUIRE COUNTY ELECTION COMMISSIONERS TO FILE WITH THE CHANCERY CLERK THE CERTIFICATE THEY RECEIVE FOR COMPLETION OF THE ELECTION SEMINAR CONDUCTED BY THE SECRETARY OF STATE; TO PROVIDE THAT IF A COUNTY ELECTION COMMISSIONER DOES NOT FILE THE CERTIFICATE WITHIN A CERTAIN PERIOD OF TIME THE COMMISSIONER WILL NOT RECEIVE ANY COMPENSATION FOR THE PERIOD OF TIME THE CERTIFICATE IS NOT FILED; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:

SECTION 1. Section 23-15-211, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-211. (1) There shall be a State Board of Election Commissioners to consist of the Governor, the Secretary of State and the Attorney General, any two (2) of whom may perform the duties required of the board; a board of election commissioners in each county to consist of five (5) persons who are electors in the county in which they are to act; and a registrar in each county who shall be the clerk of the circuit court, unless he shall be shown to be an improper person to register the names of the electors therein.

(2) The board of supervisors of each county shall pay members of the county election commissioners for attending training events a per diem in the amount provided in Section 23-15-153; however, such per diem shall not be paid to an election commissioner for more than six (6) days of training per year and shall only be paid to election commissioners who actually attend and complete a training event and obtain a training certificate.

(3) Included in this six (6) days of training per year shall be a four-day elections training seminar, which shall be equal to twenty-four (24) continuing education hours and which shall be conducted and sponsored by the Secretary of State and the Mississippi Judicial College of the University of Mississippi Law Center. Election commissioners and chairpersons of each political party executive committee or their designee shall be required to attend. * * * Each participant in the seminar shall receive a certificate from the Secretary of State indicating that the named participant has received the elections training seminar instruction and that each participant is fully qualified to conduct an election.

(4) Each county election commissioner shall be required to file annually in the office of the chancery clerk, the certificate issued pursuant to subsection (3) of this section. The certificate shall be filed as required in this subsection within two hundred ten (210) days after January 1 of each year. If any county election commissioner does not file a certificate with the chancery clerk as required in this subsection, the county election commissioner will not be entitled to any compensation or to receive any reimbursement for expenses incurred for the period of time the certificate is not filed.

SECTION 2. The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi shall submit this act, immediately upon approval by the Governor, or upon approval by the Legislature subsequent to a veto, to the Attorney General of the United States or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after the date it is effectuated under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended.