Senate Bill 2219

AN ACT TO CREATE THE RESTORATION OF VOTING RIGHTS ACT; TO PROVIDE THAT A PERSON WHO WAS DISQUALIFIED AS AN ELECTOR FOR COMMISSION OF CERTAIN CRIMES SHALL HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE RESTORED AUTOMATICALLY UPON COMPLETION OF THE SENTENCE AND FOLLOWING A TWO-YEAR WAITING PERIOD; TO PROVIDE THAT NOTICE SHALL BE GIVEN BEFORE A PLEA OF GUILTY OR NOLO CONTENDERE IS ACCEPTED IN A COURT OF LAW; TO REQUIRE THE SECRETARY OF STATE TO IMPLEMENT CERTAIN EDUCATION PROGRAMS FOR STATE AGENCIES AND JUDGES; TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "Restoration of Voting Rights Act."

SECTION 2. The purposes of this act are to strengthen democratic institutions by increasing participation in the voting process, to help people who have fully completed their sentences to become productive members of society, and to streamline procedures for restoring their right to vote.

SECTION 3. (1) Except as provided by Section 99-19-37, any person who has lost the right of suffrage pursuant to Section 241 of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890, shall have the person's suffrage restored automatically only when that person has fully completed all terms of prison, parole, probation or community corrections and has remained crime- and arrest-free in the two-year period following the full completion of sentence and any term of prison, parole, probation or community corrections. At such time the person's right to vote shall be restored by operation of law.

(2) If a person whose suffrage has been restored under this act shall appear in the registrar's office to register as a qualified elector, the person's name shall be entered on the pollbooks, if the person is otherwise a qualified elector.

SECTION 4. Before accepting a plea of guilty or nolo contendere to a felony, and before imposing a felony sentence after trial, a court shall notify the defendant that conviction may result in loss of the right to vote until the full completion of sentence, including any terms of prison, parole, probation or community corrections, and that voting rights are automatically restored two (2) years after the person remains crime- and arrest-free in the two-year period following his or her full completion of sentence.

SECTION 5. The Secretary of State shall ensure that all persons who are eligible to vote face no continued barriers to registration or voting resulting from their felony convictions by developing and implementing a program to educate attorneys, judges, election officials, corrections officials, including parole and probation officers, and members of the public as required by this act, in the following manner:

(a) Judges shall be informed of their obligation to notify criminal defendants of the potential loss or retention of their voting rights, in accordance with this act.

(b) The language on voter registration forms shall clearly state that only people convicted of crimes listed in Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, are disqualified from voting and that all others retain the right to vote.

(c) Probation and parole officers shall be informed of which convictions result in loss of voting rights and that all other convictions do not affect voting rights and are prepared to notify probationers and parolees of their rights.

(d) Accurate and complete information about the voting rights of people who have been charged with or convicted of crimes, whether disfranchising or not, shall be made available through a single publication to government officials and the public.

(e) Probation and parole officers shall be informed of the change in the law and are prepared to notify probationers and parolees how their right to vote is restored.

SECTION 6. Section 23-15-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-11. 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. If a person convicted of a crime listed in Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, has completed all the conditions of the sentence and has complied with the provisions of Sections 1 through 5 of this act, such person shall not be disqualified as an elector for such conviction. 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.

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 after 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.