Senate Bill 3057

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-281, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS SHALL NOTIFY THE OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE OF THE BOUNDARIES OF SUPERVISORS DISTRICTS AND PRECINCTS BY NO LATER THAN APRIL 1, 2011, AND TO REQUIRE THAT THE VOTING PLACE IN EACH DISTRICT AND PRECINCT SHALL BE INDICATED BY COMMON NAME AND STREET ADDRESS; TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-285, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT NO VOTING PRECINCT SHALL HAVE LESS THAN 250 QUALIFIED ELECTORS AND TO PROVIDE THAT THIS MINIMUM SIZE REQUIREMENT SHALL NOT APPLY IF THE REQUIREMENT WOULD CAUSE QUALIFIED ELECTORS TO TRAVEL MORE THAN 15 MILES OVER THE MOST COMMONLY USED ROADWAYS IN ORDER TO VOTE; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 23-15-281, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-281. Each county shall be divided into supervisors districts, which shall be the same as those for the election of members of the board of supervisors, and may be subdivided thereafter into voting precincts; and there shall be only one (1) voting place in each voting precinct, but the supervisors districts, voting precincts and voting places as now fixed in each county shall remain until altered. * * * The boundaries of supervisors districts and precincts, if altered, shall conform to visible natural or artificial boundaries such as streets, highways, railroads, rivers, lakes, bayous or other obvious lines of demarcation except county lines and municipal corporate limits. The board of supervisors, no later than April 1, 2011, shall notify the Office of the Secretary of State of the boundary of each supervisors district and voting precinct as then fixed and shall provide the Office of the Secretary of State with a legal description and a map of each supervisors district and voting precinct and shall indicate by common name and street address the voting place in each * * * district and precinct.

SECTION 2. Section 23-15-285, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-285. The board of supervisors shall cause an entry to be made on the minutes of the board at some meeting, as early as convenient, defining the boundaries of the several supervisors districts and voting precincts in the county, and designating the voting place in each voting precinct. * * * As soon as practicable after any alteration shall have been made in any supervisors district or voting precinct, or any voting place changed, the board of supervisors shall cause the alteration or change to be entered on the minutes of the board in such manner as to be easily understood; * * * however, * * * no voting precinct shall have more than five hundred (500) nor less than two hundred fifty (250) qualified electors residing in its boundaries and the board of supervisors of the various counties of this state shall as soon as practical after the effective date of this act, alter or change the boundaries of the various voting precincts to comply with this section and shall from time to time make such alterations or changes in the boundaries of voting precincts so that there shall never be more than five hundred (500) nor less than two hundred fifty (250) qualified electors within the boundaries of the various voting precincts of this state * * *. The minimum size requirement of two hundred fifty (250) qualified electors shall not apply if the requirement would cause any qualified elector to travel more than fifteen (15) miles over the most commonly used roadways in order to vote. The limitation of five hundred (500) qualified electors shall not apply to:

(a) * * * Voting precincts that are so divided, alphabetically or otherwise, so as to have less than five hundred (500) qualified electors in any one (1) box within a voting precinct; or

(b) * * * Voting precincts * * * in which voting machines are used at all elections held in the voting precinct * * *.

(2) No alteration of any supervisor's district or voting precinct shall take effect within two (2) months before an election to be held in the district or voting precinct.

(3) * * * With the exception of county lines and municipal corporate limits, the altered boundaries of supervisors districts and voting precincts shall conform to visible natural or artificial boundaries such as streets, highways, railroads, rivers, lakes, bayous or other obvious lines of demarcation.

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.