House Bill 630

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-231, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE THE APPOINTMENT OF A QUALIFIED ELECTOR OF A COUNTY RESIDING OUTSIDE THE CORPORATE LIMITS OF A SMALL MUNICIPALITY LOCATED IN THE COUNTY TO BE APPOINTED A POLL MANAGER FOR MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 23-15-235, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH AUTHORIZES THE APPOINTMENT OF ADDITIONAL POLL MANAGERS IN CERTAIN VOTING PRECINCTS, FOR PURPOSES OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 23-15-231, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-231. Before every election, the election commissioners shall appoint three (3) persons for each voting precinct to be poll managers, one (1) of whom shall be designated by the election commissioners as election bailiff. For general and special elections, the poll managers shall not all be of the same political party if suitable persons of different political parties can be found in the district. If any person appointed shall fail to attend and serve, the poll managers present, if any, may designate someone to fill his or her place; and if the election commissioners fail to make the appointments or in case of the failure of all those appointed to attend and serve, any three (3) qualified electors present when the polls should be opened may act as poll managers. * * *~~Provided, however,~~ Any person appointed to be poll manager or act as poll manager shall be a qualified elector of the county, or in the case of a municipal election, the municipality, in which the polling place is located; however, in those municipalities having a population of less than two thousand (2,000) according to the latest decennial census, a person who is not a qualified elector of the municipality may be appointed to serve or act as a poll manager in a municipal election so long as that person is a qualified elector of the county in which the municipality is located.

SECTION 2. Section 23-15-235, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:

23-15-235. In addition to the poll managers appointed pursuant to Section 23-15-231, for the first five hundred (500) registered voters in each voting precinct, the election commissioners may, in their discretion, appoint not more than three (3) persons to serve as poll managers of the election. The election commissioners may, in their discretion, appoint additional persons to serve as poll managers for each one thousand (1,000) registered voters or fraction thereof in each voting precinct above the first five hundred (500), as determined necessary by the election commissioners and approved by the board of supervisors. Any person appointed as poll manager shall be a qualified elector of the county in which the voting precinct is located.

SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2026.