Bill Text: MS HB328 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Suffrage; restore upon completion of sentence.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2012-03-06 - Died In Committee [HB328 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2012-HB328-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2012 Regular Session
To: Judiciary B; Apportionment and Elections
By: Representative Buck (5th)
House Bill 328
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROVIDE THAT A PERSON DISQUALIFIED AS AN ELECTOR BY REASON OF CONVICTION OF AN OFFENSE UNDER SECTION 241 OF THE MISSISSIPPI CONSTITUTION OF 1890 SHALL HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE RESTORED AUTOMATICALLY UPON COMPLETION OF HIS OR HER SENTENCE, PROBATION OR PAROLE, WHICHEVER IS APPLICABLE; 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 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. However, a person disqualified as an elector by reason of conviction of an offense under Section 241 of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890 shall have the right to vote restored automatically upon completion of his or her sentence, probation or parole, whichever is applicable and shall be considered a qualified elector for purposes of this section.
SECTION 2. In compliance with Section 253 of the Mississippi Constitution of 1890, the passage of this bill shall require a 2/3 vote by both houses of the Mississippi Legislature, and shall require the reasons for restoration of the right of suffrage to be spread upon the journals.
SECTION 3. 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 4. 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.
