Bill Text: MS SB2227 | 2012 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Vote fraud; constitute a disqualifying conviction.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 3-0)
Status: (Enrolled - Dead) 2012-04-25 - Enrolled Bill Signed [SB2227 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2012-SB2227-Enrolled.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2012 Regular Session
To: Elections
By: Senator(s) McDaniel, Watson, Hill
Senate Bill 2227
(As Sent to Governor)
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT VOTE FRAUD SHALL BE A DISQUALIFYING CONVICTION FOR PURPOSES OF VOTER REGISTRATION PURSUANT TO SECTION 244A OF THE MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION OF 1890; TO AMEND SECTIONS 23-15-19 AND 23-15-151, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY THERETO; 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, who is a citizen of the United States of America, 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. 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. Any person who has been convicted of vote fraud or of any crime listed in Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, shall not be registered, or if registered the name of the person shall be erased from the registration book on which it may be found by the registrar or by the election commissioners. Whenever any person shall be convicted in the circuit court of his county of any of those crimes, the registrar shall thereupon erase his name from the registration book; and whenever any person shall be convicted of any of those crimes in any other court of any county, the presiding judge of the court shall, on demand, certify the fact in writing to the registrar, who shall thereupon erase the name of the person from the registration book and file the certificate as a record of his office.
SECTION 3. Section 23-15-151, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-151. The circuit clerk of each county is authorized and directed to prepare and keep in his office a full and complete list, in alphabetical order, of persons convicted of vote fraud or of any crime listed in Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890. The clerk shall enter the names of all persons who have been or shall be hereafter convicted of vote fraud or of any crime listed in Section 241, Mississippi Constitution of 1890, in a book prepared and kept for that purpose. The board of supervisors of each county shall, as early as practicable, furnish the circuit clerk of their county with a suitable book for the enrollment of those names showing the name, date of birth, address, court, crime and date of conviction. The roll, when so prepared, shall be compared with the registration book before each election commissioner of the county. 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.
SECTION 4. 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 5. 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.
