MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1997 Regular Session

To: Elections

By: Senator(s) Rayborn

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-17-21, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ALLOW THE SPONSOR OF AN INITIATIVE MEASURE TO REIMBURSE THE CIRCUIT CLERK FOR COST OF CERTIFYING SIGNATURES ON PETITION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. 

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

SECTION 1. Section 23-17-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-17-21. [From and after the date Laws, 1996, ch. 444, Sec. 4, is effectuated under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, this section will read as follows:]

(1) Before a person may file a petition with the Secretary of State, the petition must be certified by the circuit clerk of each county in which the petition was circulated. The circuit clerk shall certify the signatures of qualified electors of that county and shall state the total number of qualified electors signing the petition in that county. The circuit clerk shall verify the name of each qualified elector signing on each petition. * * * When the person proposing any initiative measure has secured upon the petition a number of signatures of qualified electors equal to or exceeding the minimum number required by Section 273(3) of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 for the proposed measure, and such signatures have been certified by the circuit clerks of the various counties, he may submit the petition to the Secretary of State for filing. The Secretary of State shall collect a fee of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) from the person filing the petition to pay part of the administrative and publication costs.

(2) The person proposing an initiative measure may reimburse a circuit clerk at a rate not to exceed Ten Cents (104) per signature for certifying the number of signatures of qualified electors, if the circuit clerk hires additional persons to certify signatures.

SECTION 2. The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi is directed to 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.