House Bill 730

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-859, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE ANY MUNICIPALITY WITH A POPULATION OF 2,500 RESIDENTS OR LESS TO CONDUCT A SPECIAL ELECTION FOR ANY ISSUE OR CANDIDATE AT ONE CENTRALIZED POLLING PLACE; TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-557, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PRECEDING SECTION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 23-15-859, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-859. (1) Whenever under any statute a special election is required or authorized to be held in any municipality, and the statute authorizing or requiring the election does not specify the time within which the election shall be called, or the notice which shall be given, the governing authorities of the municipality shall, by resolution, fix a date upon which the election shall be held. The date shall not be less than twenty-one (21) nor more than thirty (30) days after the date upon which such resolution is adopted, and not less than three (3) weeks' notice of the election shall be given by the clerk by a notice published in a newspaper published in the municipality once each week for three (3) weeks next preceding the date of the election, and by posting a copy of the notice at three (3) public places in the municipality. Nothing herein, however, shall be applicable to elections on the question of the issuance of the bonds of a municipality or to general or primary elections for the election of municipal officers.

(2) Except as otherwise provided in subsection (3) of this section, the provisions of this section shall be applicable to all municipalities of this state, whether operating under a code charter, special charter or the commission form of government, except in cases of conflicts between the provisions of the section and the provisions of the special charter of a municipality, or the law governing the commission form of government, in which cases of conflict the provisions of the special charter or the statutes relative to the commission form of government shall apply.

(3) Any municipality with a population of two thousand five hundred (2,500) residents or less according to the latest federal decennial census may conduct a special election for any candidate or issue at one (1) centralized polling location. Such polling place may be located at city hall or another location. The notice of the election with the location thereof shall be published in some newspaper published at least once per week in the municipality affected for three (3) weeks preceding the date set for the special election, or if there be no newspaper published in the municipality, then in some newspaper having general circulation in the municipality and by posting notices continuously in three (3) public places in the municipality, one (1) of which shall be city hall or be the regular location where the municipal governing authority meets to conduct business not less than three (3) weeks before the date for the special election. The provisions of this section shall not apply to the special election of one (1) alderman, or the equivalent thereof, in a single ward.

SECTION 2. Section 23-15-557, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-557. Except as otherwise provided in Section 23-15-859(3), the governing authorities of any municipality within the State of Mississippi are hereby authorized and empowered, in their discretion, to divide the municipality into a sufficient number of voting precincts of such size and location as is necessary, and there shall be the same number of polling places. The authority conducting an election shall not be required, however, to establish a polling place in each of said precincts, but such election authorities, whether in a primary or in a general election, may locate and establish such polling places, without regard to precinct lines, in such manner as in the discretion of such authority will better accommodate the electorate and better facilitate the holding of the election.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.