MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2010 Regular Session
To: Apportionment and Elections
By: Representative Reynolds
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-313, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE HOW CITIZENS OF A MUNICIPALITY ARE CHOSEN TO SERVE ON A TEMPORARY MUNICIPAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE; TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-315, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PRECEDING SECTION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 23-15-313, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-313. (1) If there be any political party, or parties, in any municipality which shall not have a party executive committee for such municipality, such political party, or parties, shall within thirty (30) days of the date for which a candidate for a municipal office is required to qualify in that municipality select qualified electors of that municipality and of that party's political faith to serve on a temporary municipal executive committee until members of a municipal executive committee are elected at the next regular election for executive committees. The temporary municipal executive committee shall be selected in the following manner * * *: The chairman of the county executive committee of the party desiring to select a temporary municipal executive committee shall call, upon petition of five (5) or more members of that political faith, * * * a mass meeting of the qualified electors of their political faith who reside in such municipality to meet at some convenient place within such municipality, at a time to be designated in the call, and at such mass convention the members of that political faith shall select a temporary municipal executive committee which shall serve until members of a municipal executive committee are elected at the next regular election for executive committees. The public shall be given notice of such mass meeting as provided in * * * Section 23-15-315.
(2) If a municipal clerk accepts a statement of intent and filing fee from a person who desires to be a party nominee for a municipal elected office at a time when no municipal temporary executive committee has been selected, such statement of intent and filing fee shall be valid when: (a) the temporary municipal executive committee is subsequently formed before the qualifying deadline in accordance with this section and Section 23-15-315, and (b) the temporary municipal executive committee reviews the candidate's qualifications. The municipal executive committee shall conduct a party primary and certify unopposed candidates as the party's nominees.
(3) A qualified elector who desires to participate in any activity authorized by this section shall declare his or her political faith before being selected. No person shall participate in any activity authorized by this section or Section 23-15-315, until he or she declares his or her political faith.
SECTION 2. Section 23-15-315, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-315. The chairman of the county executive committee shall publish a copy of his call for a meeting in some newspaper published in the municipality affected for three (3) weeks preceding the date set for the mass convention, or if there be no newspaper published in the municipality by posting notices in three (3) public places in the municipality not less than three (3) weeks before the date for the mass convention.
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.