MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

1999 Regular Session

To: Apportionment and Elections

By: Representative Denny

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-573, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE FOR THE CREATION OF A UNIFORM AFFIDAVIT BALLOT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 23-15-573, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-573. Any person whose name does not appear upon the pollbooks shall be permitted to vote in an election; but if any person offering to vote in any election whose name does not appear upon the pollbook shall make affidavit before one (1) of the managers of election in writing that he is entitled to vote, or that he has been illegally denied registration, his vote may be prepared by him and handed to the proper election officer who shall enclose the same in an envelope with the written affidavit of the voter, * * * seal the envelope and mark plainly upon it the name of the person offering to vote. The Secretary of State shall develop a uniform affidavit to be used throughout the state for the purposes of this section. The affidavit must include the complete name, all required addresses and telephone numbers, and the signature of the affiant, and must include the signature of one (1) of the election managers. A separate register shall be maintained for affidavit ballots, and the affiant shall sign the register upon completing an affidavit under this section. In canvassing the returns of the election, the executive committee in primary elections, or the election commissioners, in a general election, * * * shall examine the records and allow the ballot to be counted, or not counted, as it appears to be legal.

SECTION 2. 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 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.