House Bill 503

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-221, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CHANGE THE OFFICE OF MUNICIPAL ELECTION COMMISSIONER, FROM AN APPOINTED TO AN ELECTED POSITION; TO PROVIDE THAT A MUNICIPAL ELECTION COMMISSIONER SHALL BE ELECTED AT THE GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION IN 2013 AND EVERY FOUR YEARS THEREAFTER; TO PROVIDE THAT ANY APPOINTMENT OF A MUNICIPAL ELECTION COMMISSIONER SHALL EXPIRE ON THE DAY BEFORE THE FIRST MONDAY OF JULY IN 2013; TO REQUIRE ANY CANDIDATE FOR MUNICIPAL OFFICE TO BE A RESIDENT AND RESIDE IN THE MUNICIPAL PRECINCT THAT SUCH CANDIDATE SEEKS TO REPRESENT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. Section 23-15-221, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-221. At the general municipal election in 2013 and every four (4) years thereafter, municipal election commissioners shall be elected in the manner provided by law for municipal officers. The * * * municipalities having a population of less than twenty thousand (20,000) inhabitants according to the last federal decennial census shall elect three (3) election commissioners; the * * * municipalities having a population of twenty thousand (20,000) inhabitants or more and less than one hundred thousand (100,000) inhabitants according to the last federal decennial census shall elect five (5) election commissioners; and the * * * municipalities having a population of one hundred thousand (100,000) or more according to the last federal decennial census shall elect seven (7) election commissioners, one (1) of whom, in each municipality, shall be designated to have printed and distributed the "official ballots," and all of whom shall perform all the duties in respect to the municipal election prescribed by law to be performed by the county election commissioners where not otherwise provided. The said election commissioners shall, in case there be but one (1) election precinct in the municipality, act as election managers themselves. Each of the commissioners, before acting, shall take and subscribe the oath of office prescribed by the Constitution and file the oath in the office of the municipal clerk. While engaged in their duties, the commissioners shall be conservators of the peace in the municipality, with all the duties and powers of such.

Any candidate for municipal election commissioner shall qualify for office as provided in Section 23-15-309, be a resident and reside in the municipal precinct that the candidate seeks to represent. Any appointment of a municipal election commissioner shall expire on the day before the first Monday of July in 2013.

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.