House Bill 276

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT A PERSON WHO HAS COMMITTED A NONVIOLENT DISQUALIFYING CRIME AS PROVIDED IN SECTION 241, MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION OF 1890, SHALL HAVE THE RIGHT TO HAVE HIS OR HER VOTE RESTORED TWO YEARS AFTER COMPLETING ALL OF THE SENTENCING REQUIREMENTS; TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-19, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT; TO BRING FORWARD SECTION 23-15-151, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH PROVIDES FOR THE REMOVAL OF VOTERS CONVICTED OF VOTER FRAUD OR DISENFRANCHISING CRIMES FROM THE STATEWIDE ELECTIONS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM, FOR THE PURPOSE OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; 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. Every inhabitant of this state, except persons adjudicated to be non compos mentis, shall be a qualified elector in and for the county, municipality and voting precinct of his or her residence and shall be entitled to vote at any election upon compliance with Section 23-15-563, if he or she is:

(a) * * *~~who is~~ A citizen of the United States of America * * *,;

(b) Eighteen (18) years old and upwards * * *,;

(c) * * *~~who~~ Has resided in this state for thirty (30) days and for thirty (30) days in the county in which he or she seeks to vote, and for thirty (30) days in the incorporated municipality in which he or she seeks to vote * * *~~, and~~;

(d) * * *~~who~~ Has been duly registered as an elector under Section 23-15-33 * * *,; and

(e) * * *~~who~~ Has never been convicted of vote fraud or of any crime listed in Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, * * * except that a person who committed a nonviolent disqualifying crime listed in Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, shall have the right to vote two (2) years after he or she has completed all of the sentencing requirements. 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 2. Section 23-15-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:

23-15-19. Except as otherwise provided in Section 23-15-11, any person who has been convicted of vote fraud or any crime listed in Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, such crimes defined as "disenfranchising," shall not be registered, or if registered the name of the person shall be removed from the Statewide Elections Management System by the registrar or the election commissioners of the county of his or her residence. Whenever any person shall be convicted in the circuit court of his or her county of a disenfranchising crime, the county registrar shall thereupon remove his or her name from the Statewide Elections Management System; and whenever any person shall be convicted of a disenfranchising crime in any other court of any county, the presiding judge of the court shall, on demand, certify the fact in writing to the registrar of the county in which the voter resides, who shall thereupon remove the name of the person from the Statewide Elections Management System and retain the certificate as a record of his or her office.

SECTION 3. Section 23-15-151, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:

23-15-151. The circuit clerk of each county is authorized and directed to prepare and keep in his or her office a full and complete list, in alphabetical order, of persons convicted of voter fraud or of any crime listed in Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890. A certified copy of any enrollment by one clerk to another will be sufficient authority for the enrollment of the name, or names, in another county. A list of persons convicted of voter fraud, any crime listed in Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, or any crime interpreted as disenfranchising in later Attorney General opinions, shall also be entered into the Statewide Elections Management System on a quarterly basis. Voters who have been convicted in a Mississippi state court of any disenfranchising crime are not qualified electors as defined by Section 23-15-11 and shall be purged or otherwise removed by the county registrar or county election commissioners from the Statewide Elections Management System.

SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2018.