MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2005 Regular Session
To: Apportionment and Elections
By: Representative Whittington
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-629, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ADD TEMPORARILY PHYSICALLY DISABLED PERSONS TO THE TYPES OF PERSONS WHO MAY AUTOMATICALLY RECEIVE AN ABSENTEE BALLOT FOR ALL ELECTIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 23-15-629, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-629. (1) The application for an absentee ballot of a person who is temporarily physically disabled or permanently physically disabled may be accompanied by a statement signed and sworn to by such person's physician, or nurse practitioner, which statement must show that the affiant is a licensed, practicing medical doctor or nurse practitioner and must indicate that the person is temporarily physically disabled or permanently physically disabled.
(2) An application accompanied by the statement provided for in subsection (1) of this section shall entitle such temporarily physically disabled or permanently physically disabled person to automatically receive an absentee ballot for all elections on a continuing basis without the necessity for reapplication.
(3) The registrar of each county shall keep an accurate list of the names and addresses of all persons whose applications for absentee ballot are accompanied by the statement set forth in subsection (1) of this section. Sixty (60) days prior to each election, the registrar shall deliver such list to the commissioners of election who shall examine the list and delete from it the names of all persons listed who are no longer qualified electors of the county. Upon completion of such examination, the commissioners of election shall return the list to the registrar by no later than forty-five (45) days prior to the election.
(4) The registrar shall send a ballot to all persons who are determined by the commissioners of election to be qualified electors pursuant to subsection (3) of this section by no later than forty (40) days prior to the election.
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.