Senate Bill 2240

AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT THE OFFICE OF ELECTION COMMISSIONER IS A NONPARTISAN OFFICE; TO PROVIDE THAT THE NAMES OF CANDIDATES FOR THE OFFICE OF ELECTION COMMISSIONER SHALL APPEAR IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER ON A SEPARATE PORTION OF THE GENERAL ELECTION BALLOT CLEARLY IDENTIFIED AS NONPARTISAN WITH NO REFERENCE TO PARTY AFFILIATION; TO AMEND SECTIONS 23-15-213 AND 23-15-367, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. The office of election commissioner is a nonpartisan office and a candidate for election thereto is prohibited from campaigning or qualifying for the office based on party affiliation. The Legislature finds that in order to ensure that campaigns for the office of election commissioner are nonpartisan and without any connection to a political party, political parties and any committee or political committee affiliated with a political party shall not engage in fund-raising on behalf of a candidate for, or officeholder of, the office election commissioner, nor shall a political party or any committee or political committee affiliated with a political party make any contribution to a candidate for the office of election commissioner or the political committee of a candidate for the office of election commissioner, nor shall a political party or any committee or political committee affiliated with a political party publicly endorse any candidate for the office of election commissioner. No candidate for the office of election commissioner or the candidate's political committee shall accept a contribution from a political party or any committee or political committee affiliated with a political party.

SECTION 2. (1) The names of candidates for the office of election commissioner which appear on the ballot at the general election shall be grouped together on a separate portion of the ballot, clearly identified as nonpartisan.

(2) The names of all candidates for the office of election commissioner shall be listed in alphabetical order on any ballot and no reference to political party affiliation shall appear on any ballot with respect to any nonpartisan election commissioner's office or candidate.

SECTION 3. Section 23-15-213, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-213. At the general election in 1984 and every four (4) years thereafter, there shall be elected five (5) commissioners of election for each county whose terms of office shall commence on the first Monday of January following their election and who shall serve for a term of four (4) years. 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 clerk of the chancery court, there to remain. While engaged in their duties, the commissioners shall be conservators of the peace in the county, with all the duties and powers of such.

The qualified electors of each supervisors district shall elect, at the general election in 1984 and every four (4) years thereafter, in their district one (1) commissioner of election. No more than one (1) commissioner shall be a resident of and reside in each supervisors district of the county; it being the purpose of this section that the county board of election commissioners shall consist of one (1) person from each supervisors district of the county and that each commissioner be elected from the supervisors district in which he resides.

Candidates for county election commissioner shall qualify by filing with the clerk of the board of supervisors of their respective counties a petition personally signed by not less than fifty (50) qualified electors of the supervisors district in which they reside, requesting that they be a candidate, by 5:00 p.m. not later than the first Monday in June of the year in which the election occurs and unless the petition is filed within the required time, their names shall not be placed upon the ballot. * * *

The petition shall have attached thereto a certificate of the registrar showing the number of qualified electors on each petition, which shall be furnished by the registrar on request. The board shall determine the sufficiency of the petition, and if the petition contains the required number of signatures and is filed within the time required, the president of the board shall verify that the candidate is a resident of the supervisors district in which he seeks election and that the candidate is otherwise qualified as provided by law, and shall certify that the candidate is qualified to the chairman or secretary of the county election commission and the names of the candidates shall be placed upon the ballot for the ensuing election. No county election commissioner shall serve or be considered as elected unless and until he has received a majority of the votes cast for the position or post for which he is a candidate. If a majority vote is not received in the first election, then the two (2) candidates receiving the most votes for each position or post shall be placed upon the ballot for a second election to be held three (3) weeks later in accordance with appropriate procedures followed in other elections involving runoff candidates.

Upon taking office, the county board of election commissioners shall organize by electing a chairman and a secretary.

It shall be the duty of the chairman to have the official ballot printed and distributed at each general or special election.

SECTION 4. Section 23-15-367, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-367. (1) Except as otherwise provided by Sections 23-15-974 through 23-15-985, Section 2 of this act and subsection (2) of this section, the arrangement of the names of the candidates, and the order in which the titles of the various offices shall be printed, and the size, print and quality of paper of the official ballot is left to the discretion of the officer charged with printing the official ballot; but the arrangement need not be uniform.

(2) The titles for the various offices shall be listed in the following order:

(a) Candidates for national office;

(b) Candidates for statewide office;

(d) Candidates for legislative office;

(e) Candidates for countywide office;

(f) Candidates for county district office.

The order in which the titles for the various offices are listed within each of the categories listed in this subsection is left to the discretion of the officer charged with printing the official ballot.

(3) It is the duty of the Secretary of State, with the approval of the Governor, to furnish the designated commissioner of each county a sample of the official ballot, not less than fifty-five (55) days prior to the election, the general form of which shall be followed as nearly as practicable.

SECTION 5. 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 6. 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.