MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE

2000 Regular Session

To: Apportionment and Elections

By: Representative Stringer

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 23-15-299 AND 23-15-359, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROHIBIT CANDIDATES FROM QUALIFYING FOR OFFICE BY FILING ELECTRONICALLY; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 23-15-299, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-299. (1) Assessments made pursuant to paragraphs (a), (b) and (c) of Section 23-15-297, and assessments made pursuant to paragraph (d) of Section 23-15-297 for legislative offices for districts composed of more than one (1) county or parts of more than one (1) county, shall be paid by each candidate to the secretary of the state executive committee with which the candidate is affiliated by 5:00 p.m. on March 1 of the year in which the primary election for the office is held or on the date of the qualifying deadline provided by statute for the office, whichever is earlier.

(2) Assessments made pursuant to paragraphs (d) and (e) of Section 23-15-297, other than assessments made for legislative offices for districts containing more than one (1) county or parts of more than one (1) county, shall be paid by each candidate to the circuit clerk of such candidate's county of residence by 5:00 p.m. on March 1 of the year in which the primary election for the office is held or on the date of the qualifying deadline provided by statute for the office, whichever is earlier. The circuit clerk shall forward the fee and all necessary information to the secretary of the proper county executive committee within two (2) business days.

(3) Assessments made pursuant to paragraphs (f) and (g) of Section 23-15-297 must be paid by each candidate to the Secretary of the State Executive Committee with which the candidate is affiliated by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, January 26, 1996, for the presidential preference primary in 1996 and must be paid sixty (60) days before the presidential preference primary in the years after 1996. Assessments made pursuant to paragraphs (f) and (g) of Section 23-15-297, in years when a presidential preference primary is not being held, shall be paid by each candidate to the Secretary of the State Executive Committee with which the candidate is affiliated by 5:00 p.m. on March 1 of the year in which the primary election for the office is held.

(4) The fees paid pursuant to subsections (1), (2) and (3) of this section shall be accompanied by a written statement containing the name and address of the candidate, the party with which he or she is affiliated, and the office for which he or she is a candidate.

(5) The secretary or circuit clerk to whom such payments are made shall promptly receipt for same stating the office for which such candidate making payment is running and the political party with which he or she is affiliated, and he or she shall keep an itemized account in detail showing the exact time and date of the receipt of each payment received by him or her and, where applicable, the date of the postmark on the envelope containing the fee and from whom, and for what office the party paying same is a candidate.

(6) The secretaries of the proper executive committee shall hold said funds to be finally disposed of by order of their respective executive committees. Such funds may be used or disbursed by the executive committee receiving same to pay all necessary traveling or other necessary expenses of the members of the executive committee incurred in discharging their duties as committeemen, and of their secretary and may pay the secretary such salary as may be reasonable.

(7) Upon receipt of the proper fee and all necessary information, the proper executive committee shall then determine whether or not each candidate is a qualified elector, and whether any candidate has been convicted of any crime listed in Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, or is a fugitive from justice for this state or any other state, and such charge upon which a candidate has fled has not been dismissed. If the proper executive committee finds that a candidate is not a qualified elector, or that such candidate has been convicted of any crime listed in Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, and not pardoned nor has served his or her sentence, or is a fugitive from justice as aforesaid, then the name of such candidate shall not be placed upon the ballot.

Where there is but one (1) candidate, the proper executive committee when the time has expired within which the names of candidates shall be furnished shall declare such candidate the nominee.

(8) No candidate may qualify by filing the information required by this section by using the internet or otherwise electronically. All filings shall be delivered personally by the candidate.

SECTION 2. Section 23-15-359, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-359. (1) The ballot shall contain the names of all candidates who have been put in nomination, not less than sixty (60) days previous to the day of the election, by the primary election of any political party. There shall be printed on the ballots the names of all persons so nominated, whether the nomination be otherwise known or not, upon the written request of one or more of the candidates so nominated, or of any qualified elector who will make oath that he was a participant in the primary election, and that the person whose name is presented by him was nominated by such primary election. The commissioner shall also have printed on the ballot in any general or special election the name of any candidate who, not having been nominated by a political party, shall have been requested to be a candidate for any office by a petition filed as provided for in subsection (3) or (4) of this section, as appropriate, and signed by not less than the following number of qualified electors:

(a) For an office elected by the state at large, not less than one thousand (1,000) qualified electors.

(b) For an office elected by the qualified electors of a Supreme Court district, not less than three hundred (300) qualified electors.

(c) For an office elected by the qualified electors of a congressional district, not less than two hundred (200) qualified electors.

(d) For an office elected by the qualified electors of a circuit or chancery court district, not less than one hundred (100) qualified electors.

(e) For an office elected by the qualified electors of a senatorial or representative district, not less than fifty (50) qualified electors.

(f) For an office elected by the qualified electors of a county, not less than fifty (50) qualified electors.

(g) For an office elected by the qualified electors of a supervisors district or justice court district, not less than fifteen (15) qualified electors.

(2) Unless the petition required above shall be filed as provided for in subsection (3) or (4) of this section, as appropriate, the name of the person requested to be a candidate, unless nominated by a political party, shall not be placed upon the ballot. The ballot shall contain the names of each candidate for each office, and such names shall be listed under the name of the political party such candidate represents as provided by law and as certified to the circuit clerk by the State Executive Committee of such political party. In the event such candidate qualifies as an independent as herein provided, he shall be listed on the ballot as an independent candidate.

(3) Petitions for offices described in paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and (d) of subsection (1) of this section, and petitions for offices described in paragraph (e) of subsection (1) of this section for districts composed of more than one (1) county or parts of more than one (1) county, shall be filed with the State Board of Election Commissioners by no later than 5:00 p.m. on the same date by which candidates for nominations in the political party primary elections are required to pay the fee provided for in Section 23-15-297, Mississippi Code of 1972.

(4) Petitions for offices described in paragraphs (f) and (g) of subsection (1) of this section, and petitions for offices described in paragraph (e) of subsection (1) of this section for districts composed of one (1) county or less, shall be filed with the proper circuit clerk by no later than 5:00 p.m. on the same date by which candidates for nominations in the political party elections are required to pay the fee provided for in Section 23-15-297. The circuit clerk shall notify the county commissioners of election of all persons who have filed petitions with such clerk. Such notification shall occur within two (2) business days and shall contain all necessary information.

(5) The commissioners may also have printed upon the ballot any local issue election matter that is authorized to be held on the same date as the regular or general election pursuant to Section 23-15-375; provided, however, that the ballot form of such local issue must be filed with the commissioners of election by the appropriate governing authority not less than sixty (60) days previous to the date of the election.

(6) The provisions of this section shall not apply to municipal elections or to the election of the offices of justice of the Supreme Court, judge of the Court of Appeals, circuit judge, chancellor, county court judge and family court judge.

(7) Nothing in this section shall prohibit special elections to fill vacancies in either house of the Legislature from being held as provided in Section 23-15-851. In all elections conducted under the provisions of Section 23-15-851 the commissioner shall have printed on the ballot the name of any candidate who, not having been nominated by a political party, shall have been requested to be a candidate for any office by a petition filed with said commissioner not less than ten (10) working days prior to the election, and signed by not less than fifty (50) qualified electors.

(8) No petition may be filed by using the internet or otherwise electronically. All petitions shall be delivered personally by the candidate.

SECTION 3. 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 4. 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.