MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2023 Regular Session
To: Apportionment and Elections
By: Representative Powell
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-193, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT THE STATE OFFICERS THAT RECEIVE A MAJORITY OF VOTES CAST FOR THE OFFICE AT THE GENERAL ELECTION SHALL BE ELECTED, BUT IF NO CANDIDATE RECEIVES A MAJORITY NUMBER OF VOTES CAST AT THE ELECTION, THEN THE TWO CANDIDATES WHO RECEIVE THE HIGHEST NUMBER OF VOTES CAST SHALL HAVE THEIR NAMES PLACED ON THE BALLOT FOR THE RUNOFF ELECTION TO BE HELD THREE WEEKS LATER; TO AMEND SECTIONS 23-15-603 AND 7-3-5, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 23-15-193, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-193. (1) At
the election in * * *
2023, and every four (4) years thereafter, there shall be elected a
Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Auditor of Public Accounts,
State Treasurer, Attorney General, three (3) public service commissioners, three
(3) Mississippi Transportation Commissioners, Commissioner of Insurance,
Commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce, Senators and members of the House of
Representatives in the Legislature, district attorneys for the several
districts, clerks of the circuit and chancery courts of the several counties,
as well as sheriffs, coroners, assessors, surveyors and members of the boards
of supervisors, justice court judges and constables, and all other officers to
be elected by the people at the general state election. All such officers
shall hold their offices for a term of four (4) years, and until their
successors are elected and qualified. The state officers shall be elected in the
manner prescribed in Section 140 of the Constitution.
(2) The state officers that receive a majority of votes cast for the office at the general election shall be elected. If no candidate receives a majority number of votes cast at the election, then the two (2) candidates who receive the highest number of votes cast shall have their names placed on the ballot for the runoff election to be held three (3) weeks later. The candidate who receives a majority of the votes cast in the runoff election shall be elected. However, if no candidate receives a majority vote cast at the election, and there is a tie in the election of those receiving the next highest vote, then those candidates receiving the next highest vote and the candidate receiving the highest number of votes cast shall have their names placed on the ballot for the runoff election to be held three (3) weeks later, and whoever receives the majority of votes cast in the runoff election shall be elected. If it appears that two (2) or more candidates for state office have an equal number of votes after the runoff election, the interested candidates shall appear before the Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court within two (2) days after the canvass and the tie shall be determined by a toss of a coin or by lot fairly and publicly drawn, and a certificate of election shall be given accordingly.
SECTION 2. Section 23-15-603, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-603. (1) The
election commissioners shall, within ten (10) days after the general election and
within ten (10) days after a runoff election, if one is required, transmit
to the Secretary of State, to be filed in his or her office, a statement of the
whole number of votes given in their county and the whole number of votes given
in each precinct in their county, for each candidate for any office at the
election; but the returns of every election for Governor, Lieutenant Governor,
Secretary of State, Attorney General, Auditor of Public Accounts, State
Treasurer, Commissioner of Insurance and other state officers, shall each be
made out separately, sealed up together and transmitted to the seat of
government, directed to the Secretary of State, and endorsed the "VOTE FOR
STATE OFFICERS * * *." * * *
In addition to the other information required pursuant to this subsection, the
returns for state officers shall contain a statement of the whole number of
votes given in each House of Representative district or portion thereof for
each candidate for state office at the election.
(2) Constitutional amendments shall be voted for at the time fixed by the concurrent resolution. The election, whether held separately or with other elections, shall be conducted, in all respects, as required for elections generally. The election commissioners shall, within ten (10) days after the election, transmit to the Secretary of State a statement of the whole number of votes given in their county and the whole number of votes given in each precinct in their county for or against constitutional amendments.
(3) The statements
certified by the election commissioners and transmitted to the Secretary of
State, as required by this section, shall be tabulated by the Secretary of
State * * *.
Certified county vote totals shall represent the final results of the election.
(4) The statements required by this section shall contain a certification, signed and dated by a majority of the election commissioners, which shall read as follows:
"We, the undersigned election commissioners, do hereby certify that this statement of the whole number of votes contains the official vote for the election reflected therein."
(5) The statements required by this section shall be transmitted to the Secretary of State on such forms and by such methods as may be required by rules and regulations promulgated by the Secretary of State.
SECTION 3. Section 7-3-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
7-3-5. The Secretary of
State shall keep a correct register of all official acts and proceedings of the
Governor * * * and
take charge of and safely keep in his office the returns of all elections by
the people * * *. He shall lay all official documents
before either branch of the Legislature when required; he shall receive from
the Clerk of the House of Representatives and the Secretary of the Senate, and
shall carefully keep and preserve in his office, the journals, papers and
proceedings of both houses of the Legislature; and he shall carefully keep and
preserve the enrolled acts and resolutions of the Legislature, maps, charts and
other property of the state remaining at the seat of government, the keeping of
which is not otherwise provided for. He shall act as the custodian of the
apostille issued by the Department of Authentications Office of the Hague
Conference on Private International Law and shall act as the authorizing official
for public documents under the Hague agreement of 1961.
SECTION 4. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2023.