House Bill 302

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT A PERSON WHO SEEKS TO BE A CANDIDATE FOR ELECTIVE OFFICE AND WHO IS DELINQUENT IN THE PAYMENT OF AD VALOREM TAXES ON THE DATE OF THE QUALIFYING DEADLINE PROVIDED BY STATUTE FOR AN ELECTIVE OFFICE, SHALL NOT BE A QUALIFIED ELECTOR FOR PURPOSES OF BEING A CANDIDATE FOR SUCH OFFICE; 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. Except as otherwise provided, every inhabitant of this state, except persons adjudicated to be non compos mentis, who is a citizen of the United States of America, is 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 vote fraud or 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 upon compliance with Section 23-15-563. 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. However, if a person who seeks to be a candidate for elective office is delinquent in the payment of ad valorem taxes on the date of the qualifying deadline provided by statute for an elective office, then such person shall not be considered a qualified elector for purposes of being a candidate for such office.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2015.