Bill Text: MS HB248 | 2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Election commissioners; revise to be a nonpartisan office.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2017-01-31 - Died In Committee [HB248 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2017-HB248-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2017 Regular Session
To: Apportionment and Elections
By: Representative Massengill
House Bill 248
AN ACT TO PROVIDE THAT THE OFFICE OF ELECTION COMMISSIONER SHALL BE A NONPARTISAN OFFICE; TO PROVIDE THAT THE NAMES OF CANDIDATES FOR THE OFFICE OF ELECTION COMMISSIONER SHALL BE LISTED AS NONPARTISAN ON A BALLOT; TO AMEND SECTIONS 23-15-213, 23-15-367, 23-15-409 AND 23-15-511, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM TO THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ACT; TO BRING FORWARD SECTIONS 23-15-401 AND 23-15-531.3, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, FOR THE PURPOSE OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENT; 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 to the office is prohibited from campaigning or qualifying for the office based on party affiliation. To ensure that campaigns for the nonpartisan office of election commissioner remain 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 fundraising on behalf of a candidate or officeholder of the nonpartisan office of election commissioner, and a political party or any committee or political committee affiliated with a political party shall not make any contribution to a candidate for the nonpartisan office of election commissioner or the political committee of a candidate for the nonpartisan office of election commissioner. A political party or any committee or political committee affiliated with a political party shall not publicly endorse a candidate for the nonpartisan office of election commissioner. A candidate or the political committee of a candidate for the nonpartisan office of election commissioner shall not 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 and 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 the nonpartisan office of election commissioner or the candidate for the nonpartisan office of election commissioner.
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) election commissioners * * * 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 election
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 election
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) election
commissioner * * *. No more than one (1) election commissioner shall
be a resident of and reside in each supervisors district of the county; * * * the
county board of election commissioners shall consist of one (1) person from
each supervisors district of the county, and * * * each election commissioner shall
be elected from the supervisors district in which he or she 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 * * *
to it a certificate of the registrar * * * that shows the number of
qualified electors on each petition, which the registrar shall * * * furnish 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 or she seeks election
and that the candidate is otherwise qualified as provided by law, and shall
certify that the candidate is qualified to the * * * chair 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 * * * until he or she has received
a majority of the votes cast for the position or post for which he or she
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 * * * chair and a secretary.
It shall be the duty of the * * * chair 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 * * *, subsection
(2) of this section and the provisions of House Bill No. , 2017 Regular
Session, 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;
(c) Candidates for state district 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 election commissioner of each county a sample of the official
ballot, not less than fifty-five (55) days * * * before the election, the
general form of which shall be followed as nearly as practicable.
SECTION 5. Section 23-15-409, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-409. All ballots for
use in voting machines shall be furnished by the same officer whose duty it is
to furnish regular ballots and shall be printed on paper or clear white
material, of such form and size as will fill the ballot frames of the machines,
in plain color type as large as the space will reasonably permit. Except as
otherwise provided in House Bill No. , 2017 Regular Session, the names of the candidates for each office
shall be arranged on each voting machine, either in columns or horizontal rows;
the caption of the various ballots on * * * the machines shall be * * * placed on * * * the machines * * * in a way that indicates to
the voter what key lever or other device is to be used or operated in order to
vote for the candidate or candidates of his or her choice. The order of
the arrangement of parties and of candidates shall be as now required by law.
SECTION 6. Section 23-15-511, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-511. The ballots
shall, as far as practicable, * * * be in the same order of arrangement as
provided for paper ballots that are to be counted manually, except that such
information may be printed in vertical or horizontal rows. Nothing in this
chapter shall * * * prohibit the information being
presented to the voters from being printed on both sides of a single ballot.
In those years when a special election * * * occurs on the same day as the
general election, the names of candidates in any special election and the
general election shall be placed on the same ballot by the election
commissioners * * * or officials in charge of the election, but the general
election candidates shall be clearly distinguished from the special election
candidates. At any time a special election is held on the same day as a party
primary election, the names of the candidates in the special election may be
placed on the same ballot, but shall be clearly distinguished as special
election candidates or primary election candidates.
Ballots shall be printed in
plain clear type in black ink and upon clear white materials of such size and
arrangement as to be compatible with the OMR tabulating equipment. Absentee
ballots shall be prepared and printed in the same form and shall be on the same
size and texture as the regular official ballots, except that they shall be
printed on tinted paper; or the ink used to print the ballots shall be of a
color different from that of the ink used to print the regular official
ballots. Arrows may be printed on the ballot to indicate the place to mark the
ballot, which may be to the right or left of the names of candidates and
propositions. Except as otherwise provided in House Bill No. , 2017
Regular Session, the titles of offices may be arranged in vertical columns
on the ballot and shall be printed above or at the side of the names of
candidates so as to indicate clearly the candidates for each office and the
number to be elected. In case there are more candidates for an office * * * than can be printed in one (1)
column, the ballot shall be clearly marked that the list of candidates is
continued on the following column. Except as otherwise provided in House
Bill No. , 2017 Regular Session, the names of candidates for each office
shall be printed in vertical columns, grouped by the offices which they seek.
In partisan elections, the party designation of each candidate, which may be
abbreviated, shall be printed following his or her name.
Two (2) sample ballots, which shall be facsimile ballots of the official ballot and instructions to the voters, shall be provided for each precinct and shall be posted in each polling place on election day.
A separate ballot security envelope or suitable equivalent in which the voter can place his or her ballot after voting, shall be provided to conceal the choices the voter has made. Absentee voters will receive a similar ballot security envelope provided by the county in which the absentee voters will insert their voted ballot, which then can be inserted into a return envelope to be mailed back to the election official. Absentee ballots will not be required to be folded when a ballot security envelope is provided.
SECTION 7. Section 23-15-401, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
23-15-401. The list of candidates used or to be used on the front of the voting machines for a voting precinct in which a voting machine is used pursuant to law shall be deemed official ballots under this chapter. The word "ballot" as used in this chapter (except when reference is made to irregular ballots) means that portion of the cardboard or paper or other material within the ballot frames containing the name of the candidate and the designation of the party by which he was nominated, or a statement of a proposed constitutional amendment, or other question or proposition, with the word "YES" for voting for any question or proposition, and the word "NO" for voting against any question. The term "question" shall mean any constitutional amendment, proposition, or other question submitted to the voters at any election. The term "official ballot" shall mean the printed strips of cardboard containing the names of the candidates nominated and a statement of the questions submitted. The term "irregular ballot" shall mean a vote cast, by or on a special device, for a person whose name does not appear on the ballots. The term "voting machine custodian" shall mean the person who shall have charge of preparing and arranging the voting machine for elections. The term "protective counter" shall mean a separate counter built into the voting machine which cannot be reset, which records the total number of movements of the operating lever. The term "officials in charge of the election" shall mean the state election commissioners, the county election commissioners, the county executive committee, the municipal election commissioners, the municipal executive committee, or any other official or officials empowered by law or who may in the future be empowered by law to hold an election.
SECTION 8. Section 23-15-531.3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is brought forward as follows:
23-15-531.3. (1) The ballots for DREs shall be of such size and arrangement as will suit the construction of the DRE screen and shall be in plain, clear type that is easily readable by persons with normal vision.
(2) (a) If the equipment has the capacity for color display, the names of all candidates in a particular race shall be displayed in the same color, font and size, and the political party or affiliation of candidates may be displayed in a color different from that used to display the names of the candidates, but all political party or affiliations shall be displayed in the same color. All political party names shall be displayed in the same size and font.
(b) All ballot questions and constitutional amendments shall be displayed in the same color.
SECTION 9. Section 1 and 2 of this act shall be codified as new sections in Chapter 15, Title 23, Mississippi Code of 1972.
SECTION 10. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2017.
