MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2023 Regular Session
To: Elections
By: Senator(s) Tate, Jackson, McLendon
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-193, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT THE STATE OFFICERS THAT RECEIVE A MAJORITY OF VOTES CAST FOR THE OFFICE AT THE GENERAL ELECTION SHALL BE ELECTED, BUT IF NO CANDIDATE RECEIVES A MAJORITY NUMBER OF VOTES CAST AT THE ELECTION, THEN THE TWO CANDIDATES WHO RECEIVE THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF VOTES CAST SHALL HAVE THEIR NAMES PLACED ON THE BALLOT FOR THE RUNOFF ELECTION TO BE HELD THREE WEEKS LATER; TO AMEND SECTIONS 23-15-603 AND 7-3-5, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 23-15-193, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-193. (1) At
the election in * * * 2023, and every four (4) years thereafter,
there shall be elected a Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State,
Auditor of Public Accounts, State Treasurer, Attorney General, three (3) public
service commissioners, three (3) Mississippi Transportation Commissioners,
Commissioner of Insurance, Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce, Senators
and members of the House of Representatives in the Legislature, district
attorneys for the several districts, clerks of the circuit and chancery courts
of the several counties, as well as sheriffs, coroners, assessors, surveyors
and members of the boards of supervisors, justice court judges and constables,
and all other officers to be elected by the people at the general state election.
All such officers shall hold their offices for a term of four (4) years, and
until their successors are elected and qualified. The state officers shall be
elected in the manner prescribed in Section 140 of the Constitution.
(2) The state officers that receive a majority of votes cast for the office at the general election shall be elected. If no candidate receives a majority number of votes cast at the election, then the two (2) candidates who receive the highest number of votes cast shall have their names placed on the ballot for the runoff election to be held three (3) weeks later. The candidate who receives a majority of the votes cast in the runoff election shall be elected. However, if no candidate receives a majority vote cast at the election, and there is a tie in the election of those receiving the next highest vote, then those candidates receiving the next highest vote and the candidate receiving the highest number of votes cast shall have their names placed on the ballot for the runoff election to be held three (3) weeks later, and whoever receives the majority of votes cast in the runoff election shall be elected. If it appears that two (2) or more candidates for state office have an equal number of votes, the interested candidates shall appear before the justices of the Supreme Court of Mississippi within two (2) days after the canvass and the tie shall be determined by a toss of a coin or by lot fairly and publicly drawn, and a certificate of election shall be given accordingly.
SECTION 2. Section 23-15-603, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-603. (1) The
election commissioners shall, within ten (10) days after the general election and
within ten (10) days after a runoff election, if one is required, transmit
to the Secretary of State, to be filed in his or her office, a statement of the
whole number of votes given in their county and the whole number of votes given
in each precinct in their county, for each candidate for any office at the
election; but the returns of every election for Governor, Lieutenant Governor,
Secretary of State, Attorney General, Auditor of Public Accounts, State
Treasurer, Commissioner of Insurance and other state officers, shall each be
made out separately, sealed up together and transmitted to the seat of
government, directed to the Secretary of State, and endorsed the "VOTE FOR
STATE OFFICERS * * *." * * * In
addition to the other information required pursuant to this subsection, the returns
for state officers shall contain a statement of the whole number of votes given
in each House of Representative district or portion thereof for each candidate
for state office at the election.
(2) Constitutional amendments shall be voted for at the time fixed by the concurrent resolution. The election, whether held separately or with other elections, shall be conducted, in all respects, as required for elections generally. The election commissioners shall, within ten (10) days after the election, transmit to the Secretary of State a statement of the whole number of votes given in their county and the whole number of votes given in each precinct in their county for or against constitutional amendments.
(3) The statements certified
by the election commissioners and transmitted to the Secretary of State, as
required by this section, shall be tabulated by the Secretary of State * * *. Certified county vote totals shall represent
the final results of the election.
(4) The statements required by this section shall contain a certification, signed and dated by a majority of the election commissioners, which shall read as follows:
"We, the undersigned election commissioners, do hereby certify that this statement of the whole number of votes contains the official vote for the election reflected therein."
(5) The statements required by this section shall be transmitted to the Secretary of State on such forms and by such methods as may be required by rules and regulations promulgated by the Secretary of State.
SECTION 3. Section 7-3-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
7-3-5. The Secretary of
State shall keep a correct register of all official acts and proceedings of the
Governor * * * and
take charge of and safely keep in his office the returns of all elections by
the people * * *. He shall lay all
official documents before either branch of the Legislature when required; he
shall receive from the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary
of the Senate, and shall carefully keep and preserve in his office, the
journals, papers and proceedings of both houses of the Legislature; and he
shall carefully keep and preserve the enrolled acts and resolutions of the
Legislature, maps, charts and other property of the state remaining at the seat
of government, the keeping of which is not otherwise provided for. He shall
act as the custodian of the apostille issued by the Department of
Authentications Office of the Hague Conference on Private International Law and
shall act as the authorizing official for public documents under the Hague
agreement of 1961.
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2023.