MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Apportionment and Elections

By: Representatives Chaney, Johnson

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-637, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT ABSENTEE BALLOTS SHALL BE CAST NOT LATER THAN 5:00 P.M. ON THE MONDAY IMMEDIATELY PRECEDING ELECTIONS HELD ON TUESDAY; TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-639, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT THE CIRCUIT CLERK OR HIS DESIGNEE SHALL COUNT THE ABSENTEE BALLOTS; TO PROVIDE THAT THE CHAIRMAN OF EACH POLITICAL PARTY OR HIS DESIGNEE SHALL OBSERVE THE COUNTING OF THE ABSENTEE BALLOTS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

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

SECTION 1. Section 23-15-637, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-637. Absentee ballots received by mail, excluding presidential ballots as provided for in Sections 23-15-731 and 23-15-733, must be received by the registrar by 5:00 p.m. on the date preceding the election; any received after such time shall be handled as provided in Section 23-15-647 and shall not be counted. All ballots cast by the absent elector appearing in person in the office of the registrar shall be cast not later than 5:00 p.m. on the Monday immediately preceding elections held on Tuesday, the Thursday immediately preceding elections held on Saturday, or the second day immediately preceding the date of elections held on other days. The registrar shall deposit all absentee ballots which have been timely cast in the ballot boxes upon receipt.

SECTION 2. Section 23-15-639, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-639. At the close of the regular balloting and at the close of the polls, the election managers of each voting precinct shall secure the envelopes containing the absentee ballots of the electors and take the envelopes to the circuit clerk's office in the county in which the precinct is located, and the circuit clerk or his designee shall first take the envelopes containing the absentee ballots of such electors from the box, and the name, address and precinct inscribed on each such envelope shall be announced by the circuit clerk or his designee. The signature on the application shall then be compared with the signature on the back of the envelope. If it corresponds and the affidavit, if one is required, is sufficient and the circuit clerk or his designee finds that the applicant is a registered and qualified voter or otherwise qualified to vote, and that he has not appeared in person and voted at such election, the envelope shall then be opened and the ballot removed from the envelope, without its being unfolded, or permitted to be unfolded or examined. Having observed and found the ballot to be regular as far as can be observed from its official endorsement, the circuit clerk or his designee shall * * * enter the voter's name in the receipt book provided for that purpose and mark "VOTED" in the pollbook or poll list as if he had been present and voted in person. If voting machines are used, all absentee ballots shall be placed in the ballot box before any ballots are counted, and the circuit clerk or his designee shall immediately count such absentee ballots and add the absentee ballots cast in each precinct to the votes cast in the voting machine or device in the same precinct in which the absentee ballots were cast. The chairman of each political party or his designee shall observe the counting of the absentee ballots.

SECTION 3. 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 4. 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.