House Bill 1261

AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR AN ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD FOR THE POPLARVILLE SCHOOL DISTRICT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. (1) The board of the Poplarville School District shall consist of five (5) members. Beginning in 2007, the members of the school board shall be elected from special school board member districts in the manner provided under this section. The selection of members of the school board holding office before January 2008 shall be governed by the laws applicable to municipal separate school districts.

(2) The governing authorities of the City of Poplarville shall apportion the Poplarville School District, including any added territory, into five (5) single school board member districts. The school board member districts must be as nearly equal as possible according to population, according to the most recent federal decennial census. The municipal governing authorities shall submit the school board member district lines to the United States Department of Justice for preclearance or to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia for a declaratory judgment in accordance with the provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended. If the school board member district lines in a school district are precleared by the United States Department of Justice or approved by the United States District Court, the municipal governing authorities and the board of the Poplarville School District shall place upon their minutes the boundaries established for the five (5) school board member districts, and the school board shall publish the boundaries in a newspaper of general circulation within the school district for at least three (3) consecutive weeks. After having given notice of publication and recording the publication upon the minutes of the school board, the school board member district lines shall be effective. As soon as practicable after the results of the 2010 federal decennial census and every federal decennial census thereafter are published, the municipal governing authorities shall reapportion the school board member districts in the manner prescribed in this subsection for the creation of the original districts.

(3) In order for a person to be eligible to be elected to serve on the school board, the person must be a bona fide resident and qualified elector of the school board member district entitled to such representation on the school board. Each member shall serve for a term of four (4) years.

(4) On the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November 2007 and every four (4) years thereafter, the election of the members of the school board shall be held in the same manner and at the same time as the general elections are held.

(5) Candidates for the school board shall file with the county election commissioners, not more than ninety (90) days nor less than sixty (60) days before the date of the election, a petition of nomination signed by at least fifty (50) or twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of the school board member district, whichever is less. The name of each qualified candidate shall be placed on the ballot. The election shall be held in the same manner as the general elections are held. The candidate in each school board member district who receives a majority of the votes cast by the qualified electors in that district shall be elected. However, if no candidate receives a majority of the votes, a runoff election shall be held two (2) weeks after the election. The names of the candidate receiving the highest number of votes and the candidate, or candidates in the event of a tie, receiving the next highest vote for the office shall be placed on the ballot in the runoff election. The person receiving the highest number of votes cast by the qualified electors in the runoff election shall be elected. All persons elected to serve on the school board shall take office on the first Monday of January next following the date of their election.

(6) Whenever there is a vacancy in the membership of the school board, the vacancy shall be filled, depending upon the length of the unexpired term of the vacated office, in the manner provided under this subsection.

(a) If the unexpired term of the vacated office is six (6) months or less, the remaining members of the school board shall appoint, within sixty (60) days after the vacancy occurs, a person to serve the unexpired portion of the term. The appointee shall be selected from the qualified electors of the school board member district in which the vacancy occurs. The chairman of the school board shall certify to the Secretary of State the fact of the appointment, and the Governor shall commission the person appointed.

(b) If the unexpired term of the vacated office is greater than six (6) months, an election shall be held to fill the vacancy. The school board shall certify in writing the fact of the vacancy to the municipal governing authorities. At the next regular meeting of the municipal governing authorities, after their receipt of certification of the vacancy from the school board, the municipal governing authorities shall make and enter on their minutes an order for an election to be held in the school board member district in which the vacancy exists and shall fix the date upon which the election shall be held, which date shall not be less than thirty (30) days nor more than forty-five (45) days after the date upon which the order is adopted. The municipal governing authorities shall cause to be published notice of the election in a newspaper of general circulation within the school district once each week for three (3) successive weeks preceding the date of the election. The first notice must be published at least thirty (30) days before the date of the election. Notice also shall be given by the school board by posting a copy of the notice at three (3) public places in the school board member district in which the vacancy exists and at the administrative offices of the school board not less than twenty-one (21) days before the date of the election. Candidates for the vacated office shall file with the municipal governing authorities not less than ten (10) days before the date of the election, a petition of nomination signed by at least fifty (50) or twenty percent (20%) of the qualified electors of the school board member district, whichever is less. The election shall be held, as far as practicable, in the same manner as school board elections are conducted under this section. The candidate who receives a majority of the votes cast by the qualified electors in the school board member district shall be elected. However, if no candidate receives a majority of the votes, a runoff election shall be held two (2) weeks after the election. The names of the candidate receiving the highest number of votes and the candidate, or candidates in the event of a tie, receiving the next highest vote for the office shall be placed on the ballot in the runoff election. The person receiving the highest number of votes cast by the qualified electors in the runoff election shall be elected. The clerk of the election commission shall give a certificate of election to the person elected and shall return to the Secretary of State a copy of the order of holding the election and its results, certified by the clerk. The Governor shall commission the person elected to serve the remainder of the unexpired term. However, if nine (9) days before the date of the election only one (1) person has qualified as a candidate, the municipal governing authorities shall dispense with the election, and the remaining members of the school board shall appoint that candidate to fill the unexpired term. If no person has qualified at least nine (9) days before the election, the election shall be dispensed with, and the remaining members of the school board shall appoint a person, selected from the qualified electors of the school board member district in which the vacancy exists, to fill the unexpired term. The chairman of the school board shall certify to the Secretary of State the fact of the appointment, and the Governor shall commission the person appointed.

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.