Bill Text: MS HB23 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Resolution board; revise time allowed to count certain absentee ballots.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-10 - Referred To Apportionment and Elections [HB23 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2025-HB23-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2025 Regular Session
To: Apportionment and Elections
By: Representative Scott
House Bill 23
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-639, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE TIME FOR THE RESOLUTION BOARD TO COUNT ABSENTEE BALLOTS; TO PROVIDE A DEADLINE FOR WHEN CERTAIN ABSENTEE BALLOTS MUST BE COUNTED BY; TO REQUIRE THE RESOLUTION BOARD TO POST THE VOTE TOTALS OF THE ABSENTEE BALLOTS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 23-15-639, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-639. (1) The examination and counting of all absentee ballots shall be conducted as follows:
(a) At the opening of the regular balloting and at the opening of the polls, the resolution board established under Section 23-15-523 and trained in the process of canvassing absentee ballots shall first take the envelopes containing the absentee ballots of such electors from the secure location at the registrar's office, and the name, address and precinct inscribed on each envelope shall be announced by the resolution board.
(b) (i) For absentee ballots that were received by mail, the signature on the application shall then be compared with the signature in the box on the back of the envelope. A portion of the elector's signature extending outside of the box shall not be grounds for rejecting that elector's ballot. If it corresponds and the affidavit, if one is required, is sufficient and the resolution board finds that the applicant is a registered and qualified voter or otherwise qualified to vote, the envelope shall then be opened and the ballot removed from the envelope, without its being unfolded, or permitted to be unfolded or examined.
(ii) For absentee ballots that were cast in person in the registrar's office, the resolution board shall confirm that the voter completed the application on the front of the envelope and signed the elector's certificate in the box on the back of the envelope. If it is signed and the resolution board finds that the applicant is a registered and qualified voter or otherwise qualified to vote, the envelope shall be opened and the absentee ballot removed from the envelope, without its being unfolded, or permitted to be unfolded or examined.
(c) Having observed
and found the ballot to be regular as far as can be observed from its official
endorsement, the resolution board shall deposit it in the ballot box with the
other ballots before counting any ballots and enter the voter's name in the
receipt book provided for that purpose. All absentee ballots received prior to
7:00 p.m. the day before the election shall be counted in the registrar's
office by the resolution board when the polls * * * open and then added to the votes
cast in each precinct. Once the resolution board has counted all of the
absentee ballots received before 7:00 p.m. the day before the election, they
shall post the vote totals of those absentee ballots. All absentee ballots
received after 7:00 p.m. the day before the election but not later than the
fifth business day after the election shall be processed by the resolution
board by 5:00 p.m. on the sixth business day after the election.
(2) The resolution board shall also take such action as may be prescribed by the Secretary of State to ensure compliance with the identification requirements of Section 23-15-563.
(3) The resolution board shall process the absentee ballots using the procedure provided in subsection (1) of this section.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2025.
