House Bill 376

AN ACT TO CREATE NEW SECTION 23-15-211.2, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AND THE SECRETARY OF STATE TO BE PRESENT IN ANY POLLING PLACE DURING AN ELECTION; TO CREATE NEW SECTION 23-15-211.3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CREATE THE ELECTION CRIMES UNIT WITHIN THE ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE; TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-549, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REQUIRE THE ATTORNEY GENERAL AND SECRETARY OF STATE TO CREATE A FORM WHICH ENSURES VOTER INTEGRITY WHEN A VOTER REQUIRES ASSISTANCE AT THE POLLS; TO AMEND SECTION 25-5-1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ADD A CONVICTION OF AN ELECTION CRIME TO THE REASONS A PUBLIC OFFICIAL IS REMOVED FROM OFFICE; TO AMEND SECTION 69-27-209, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO DELETE THE LANGUAGE WHICH REFERS TO POLL TAXES; TO REPEAL SECTION 19-17-21, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDES FOR THE CREDITING OF POLL TAXES; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. The following shall be codified as Section 23-15-211.2, Mississippi Code of 1972:

23-15-211.2. The Attorney General, or his designated representatives, and the Secretary of State, or his designated representatives, shall be authorized to be present in any polling places during any election, including any general, primary, special, ballot measure or court ordered election.

SECTION 2. The following shall be codified as Section 23-15-211.3, Mississippi Code of 1972:

23-15-211.3. (1) There is hereby created the Election Crimes Unit within the Office of the Attorney General to investigate and prosecute cases involving election crimes.

(2) The Attorney General shall employ one (1) prosecutor and two (2) investigators and may employ additional staff as needed for the unit created under subsection (1).

SECTION 3. Section 23-15-549, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-549. (1) Any voter who declares to the managers of the election that he requires assistance to vote by reason of blindness, disability or inability to read or write may be given assistance by a person of the voter's choice other than the voter's employer, or agent of that employer, or officer or agent of the voter's union.

(2) In order to assure the integrity of any ballot in which assistance has been provided to the voter in the marking of his ballot, a form, to be developed by the Attorney General with the assistance of the Secretary of State, shall be used by the appropriate poll manager or poll managers to certify that the requirements of subsection (1) of this section have been met before the voter casts his ballot.

(3) Any manager who willfully and knowingly permits a voter to receive assistance in marking his ballot without following the requirements of subsection (1) of this section or who fails to complete the certification required in subsection (2) of this section before any voter receives assistance in marking his ballot, shall be ineligible to serve as a manager in future elections, and shall be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00) or imprisoned in the county jail for not more than six (6) months, or both.

SECTION 4. Section 25-5-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

25-5-1. (a) If any public officer, state, district, county or municipal, shall be convicted or enter a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in any court of this state or any other state or in any federal court of any felony other than manslaughter or any violation of the United States Internal Revenue Code, of corruption in office or peculation therein, or of gambling or dealing in futures with money coming to his hands by virtue of his office, any court of this state, in addition to such other punishment as may be prescribed, shall adjudge the defendant removed from office; and the office of the defendant shall thereby become vacant. If any such officer be found by inquest to be of unsound mind during the term for which he was elected or appointed, or shall be removed from office by the judgment of a court of competent jurisdiction or otherwise lawfully, his office shall thereby be vacated; and in any such case the vacancy shall be filled as provided by law.

(b) When any such officer is found guilty of a crime which is a felony under the laws of this state or which is punishable by imprisonment for one (1) year or more, other than manslaughter or any violation of the United States Internal Revenue Code, in a federal court or a court of competent jurisdiction of any other state, the Attorney General of the State of Mississippi shall promptly enter a motion for removal from office in the circuit court of Hinds County in the case of a state officer, and in the circuit court of the county of residence in the case of a district, county or municipal officer. The court, or the judge in vacation, shall, upon notice and a proper hearing, issue an order removing such person from office and the vacancy shall be filled as provided by law.

(c) If any elected public officer, state, district, county or municipal, shall be convicted or enter a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in any court of this state or any other state or in any federal court of any crime, whether felony or misdemeanor, relating to voting or voter registration, any court of this state, in addition to such other punishment as may be prescribed, shall adjudge the defendant removed from office; and the office of the defendant shall thereby become vacant. The Attorney General of the State of Mississippi shall promptly enter a motion for removal from office in the Circuit Court of Hinds County in the case of a state officer, and in the circuit court of the county of residence in the case of a district, county or municipal officer. The court, or the judge in vacation, shall, upon notice and a proper hearing, issue an order removing such person from office and the vacancy shall be filled as provided by law. In addition, the person removed from office shall be ineligible to hold any elected office, state, district, county or municipal, after removal.

SECTION 5. Section 69-27-209, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

[With regard to any county which is exempt from the provisions of Section 19-2-3, this section shall read as follows:]

69-27-209. The board of supervisors of a county as designated in Section 69-27-201 may, on the recommendation of the soil erosion committee, or shall, if so required by the election hereinafter provided for, advertise for bids as in other cases and purchase the proper terracing and/or ditching machinery, either for the county as a whole or for any one or more supervisors districts thereof as a soil erosion district, and provide the necessary labor for the operation thereof, and the necessary supplies and maintenance to properly operate the same, subject, however, to the approval of the soil erosion committee herein otherwise provided. In event the board of supervisors shall fail or refuse to advertise for bids for the purchase of any machinery recommended by said soil erosion committee within sixty (60) days after receipt of such recommendation, it shall, on the filing with it of a petition signed by ten percent (10%) or more of the qualified electors of the county as a whole, or of one or more supervisors districts as the petition may provide, call and hold as in other cases a special election in said county, or in such one or more supervisors districts, within sixty (60) days after the filing of the petition, in which election the question shall be, for or against the purchase of terracing and/or ditching machinery for the county, or for one or more supervisors districts as the case may be; and if a majority of the votes cast in said election be in favor of the purchase of such machinery, then said board shall, at its next meeting, advertise for bids for the purchase thereof, and thereafter further perform the duties required of it hereunder with respect to soil erosion work. Such advertisement for bids shall constitute notice to the public of the intention of the board to make such purchase and the board may proceed accordingly unless on or before the first day of the meeting at which said bids are to be opened a petition, signed by twenty percent (20%) or more of the qualified electors of the county, * * * or if the soil erosion district is composed of one or more supervisors districts then of twenty percent (20%) or more of such soil erosion district, shall be filed with the clerk of the board protesting against such purchase, in which event such purchase shall not be made unless approved in an election called and held for the purpose in the manner provided for the calling and holding of elections on the question of the issuance of tax anticipation note or notes. Said board shall have full supervision of all soil erosion work, the machinery, labor, supplies, contracts, and the funds arising from work performed, from taxation, if any, or otherwise, except to the extent herein otherwise specifically provided; and in administering the soil erosion fund the board shall take into consideration the repairs and replacements incident to the operation of the character of machinery in use in order that the work may continue without undue interruption as long as may be necessary. In event machinery be purchased hereunder for soil erosion districts composed of one or more supervisors districts, but less than the whole county, then the soil erosion fund shall be administered in one or more subdivisions as may be necessary, so as to keep separate the operations of the several soil erosion districts of the county, and the taxes levied, if any, shall likewise be levied upon said separate soil erosion districts, in the same manner as for separate road districts; and for these purposes such separate soil erosion districts may be designated by name or number, to be declared by the board. All acts and proceedings of the board with respect to soil erosion work and the funds thereof shall be by order upon its minutes, as in other cases. Contracts for terracing and/or ditching shall be performed as nearly as possible in the order of their dates, any deviation therefrom by reason of necessity, public convenience, causes beyond the control of the committee, or agreement with the landowners, to be under the direction of the soil erosion committee. Only one (1) committee shall be appointed in said county, regardless of the number of soil erosion districts in operation therein.

[With regard to any county which is required to operate on a countywide system of road administration as described in Section 19-2-3, this section shall read as follows:]

69-27-209. The board of supervisors of a county as designated in Section 69-27-201 may, on the recommendation of the soil erosion committee, or shall, if so required by the election hereinafter provided for, advertise for bids as in other cases and purchase the proper terracing and/or ditching machinery for the county and provide the necessary labor for the operation thereof, and the necessary supplies and maintenance to properly operate the same, subject, however, to the approval of the soil erosion committee herein otherwise provided. In event the board of supervisors shall fail or refuse to advertise for bids for the purchase of any machinery recommended by said soil erosion committee within sixty (60) days after receipt of such recommendation, it shall, on the filing with it of a petition signed by ten percent (10%) or more of the qualified electors of the county, call and hold as in other cases a special election in said county within sixty (60) days after the filing of the petition, in which election the question shall be, for or against the purchase of terracing and/or ditching machinery for the county; and if a majority of the votes cast in said election be in favor of the purchase of such machinery, then said board shall, at its next meeting, advertise for bids for the purchase thereof, and thereafter further perform the duties required of it hereunder with respect to soil erosion work. Such advertisement for bids shall constitute notice to the public of the intention of the board to make such purchase and the board may proceed accordingly unless on or before the first day of the meeting at which said bids are to be opened a petition, signed by twenty percent (20%) or more of the qualified electors of the county, shall be filed with the clerk of the board protesting against such purchase, in which event such purchase shall not be made unless approved in an election called and held for the purpose in the manner provided for the calling and holding of elections on the question of the issuance of tax anticipation note or notes. Said board shall have full supervision of all soil erosion work, the machinery, labor, supplies, contracts, and the funds arising from work performed, from taxation, if any, or otherwise, except to the extent herein otherwise specifically provided; and in administering the soil erosion fund the board shall take into consideration the repairs and replacements incident to the operation of the character of machinery in use in order that the work may continue without undue interruption as long as may be necessary. All acts and proceedings of the board with respect to soil erosion work and the funds thereof shall be by order upon its minutes, as in other cases. Contracts for terracing and/or ditching shall be performed as nearly as possible in the order of their dates, any deviation therefrom by reason of necessity, public convenience, causes beyond the control of the committee, or agreement with the landowners, to be under the direction of the soil erosion committee. Only one (1) committee shall be appointed in said county.

SECTION 6. Section 19-17-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, which provides for the crediting and reporting of poll taxes for county public education by the county auditor, is repealed.

SECTION 7. 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 8. 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.