Bill Text: MS SB2640 | 2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Electronic pollbooks; allow to include list of inactive voters when affidavit ballots are available.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2025-02-04 - Died In Committee [SB2640 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2025-SB2640-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2025 Regular Session
To: Elections
By: Senator(s) Tate
Senate Bill 2640
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 23-15-125, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ALLOW THE INCLUSION OF INACTIVE VOTERS IN ELECTRONIC POLLBOOKS SO LONG AS AFFIDAVIT BALLOTS ARE AVAILABLE AT SAID VOTING PRECINCT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 23-15-125, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-125. (1) The pollbook of each voting precinct shall designate the voting precinct for which it is to be used, and shall be ruled in appropriate columns, with printed or written headings, as follows: date of registration; voter registration number; name of electors; date of birth; and a number of blank columns for the dates of elections. All qualified applicants who register with the registrar shall be entered in the Statewide Elections Management System. Only the names of those qualified applicants who register within thirty (30) days before an election shall appear on the pollbooks of the election; however, if the thirtieth day to register before an election falls on a Sunday or legal holiday, the registration applications submitted on the business day immediately following the legal holiday shall be accepted and entered in the Statewide Elections Management System for the purpose of enabling voters to vote in the next election. When county election commissioners determine that any elector is disqualified from voting, by reason of death, conviction of a disenfranchising crime, removal from the jurisdiction, failure to comply with the provisions of Section 23-15-152, or other legal cause, that fact shall be noted in the Statewide Elections Management System and the voter's name shall be purged from the Statewide Elections Management System, the state's voter roll and the county's pollbooks.
(2) Nothing in this section shall preclude the use of electronic pollbooks. Voting precincts that utilize electronic pollbooks, shall maintain all the information that is required in subsection (1) of this section, as well as a list of inactive registered voters who formerly held active status, and have moved to inactive status following the procedures in Sections 23-15-152 and 23-15-153. Electronic pollbooks shall not include individuals who have been removed from the voter roll because the county election commissioners determined that an elector was disqualified from voting by reason of death, conviction of a disenfranchising crime, removal from the jurisdiction, failure to comply with the provisions of Section 23-15-152, or other legal cause that was noted in the Statewide Elections Management System and the voter's name was purged from the Statewide Elections Management System, the state's voter roll and the county's pollbooks. If a voter is deemed to be in inactive status, the voter may vote by affidavit ballot only, and that ballot shall be accepted and counted following the same procedure provided in Section 23-15-573.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2025.
