House Bill 472

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT A PERSON DISQUALIFIED AS AN ELECTOR BY REASON OF CONVICTION OF AN OFFENSE UNDER SECTION 241, MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION OF 1890, SHALL HAVE HIS RIGHT TO VOTE RESTORED UPON COMPLETION OF CERTAIN PRESCRIBED CONDITIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 23-15-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-11. (1) Every inhabitant of this state, except persons adjudicated to be non compos mentis, who is a citizen of the United States of America, eighteen (18) years old and upwards, who has resided in this state for thirty (30) days and for thirty (30) days in the county in which he seeks to vote, and for thirty (30) days in the incorporated municipality in which he seeks to vote, and who has been duly registered as an elector under Section 23-15-33, and who has never been convicted of any crime listed in Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, shall be a qualified elector in and for the county, municipality and voting precinct of his residence, and shall be entitled to vote at any election. Any person who will be eighteen (18) years of age or older on or before the date of the general election and who is duly registered to vote not less than thirty (30) days before the primary election associated with the general election, may vote in the primary election even though the person has not reached his or her eighteenth birthday at the time that the person seeks to vote at the primary election. No others than those specified in this section shall be entitled, or shall be allowed, to vote at any election.

(2) (a) Any person convicted of an offense described in Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, shall have his or her suffrage restored when all of the following conditions are met:

(i) The person has completed all terms and conditions imposed by the sentencing court, including the service of any period of incarceration, post-release supervision, probation or parole;

(ii) A period of three (3) years has elapsed since the completion of the terms and conditions described in subsection (a), without the person having been convicted subsequently of a felony under the laws of this state, any other state or under federal law;

(iii) The person has submitted a sworn petition to the sentencing court for a certificate of restoration of suffrage, indicating that the conditions imposed in paragraphs (a)(i) and (a)(ii) of this subsection have been met and the person has never been convicted of a felony other than that found within the present cause of action subject to the petition; and

(iv) A certificate of restoration of suffrage may not be issued until the clerk of the sentencing court verifies that the petitioner has not been convicted of a felony other than the one subject to the sworn petition.

(b) If a certificate of restoration of suffrage is granted by the sentencing court to the person, the certificate shall be forwarded by the clerk of the court to the registrar in the county in which the person resides and desires to be a qualified elector. A person who presents a certificate of restoration may not be denied the right to register to vote or to cast a ballot based upon a prior felony conviction.

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 either the date it is effectuated under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended, or the date that House Concurrent Resolution No._____, 2011 Regular Session, takes effect, whichever is the later date; however, this act shall take effect and be in force only if it is effectuated under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended, and only if House Concurrent Resolution No._____, 2011 Regular Session, takes effect by effectuation under the Voting Rights Act of 1965, as amended and extended, and by ratification of the electorate at the November 2010 general election.