Bill Text: MS SB2648 | 2014 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Voter preregistration; authorize for persons 16 and older who are otherwise eligible to vote.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2014-02-04 - Died In Committee [SB2648 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2014-SB2648-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2014 Regular Session
To: Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency; Elections
By: Senator(s) McDaniel
Senate Bill 2648
AN ACT TO PROVIDE FOR VOTER PREREGISTRATION FOR PERSONS 16 AND OLDER WHO ARE OTHERWISE ELIGIBLE TO VOTE; TO AMEND SECTIONS 23-15-11, 23-15-33 AND 23-15-37, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CONFORM; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. (1) Every person who is sixteen (16) years of age or older and who, except for his age, is otherwise eligible to vote under the laws of this state may be preregistered as an elector.
(2) The Secretary of State is authorized to promulgate the rules and regulations that may be necessary to implement voter preregistration. At a minimum, he shall adopt:
(a) An application form to be completed by persons preregistering by mail or before the registrar; and
(b) A method of ensuring that preregistered voters are automatically registered upon reaching eighteen (18) years of age.
(3) As far as possible, the provisions of this article shall likewise apply to the preregistration of electors.
SECTION 2. Section 23-15-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-11. (1) 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 upon compliance with Section 23-15-563.
(2) 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 or who preregistered to vote, 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 3. Section 23-15-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-33. (1) Every person entitled to be registered as an elector in compliance with the laws of this state and who has signed his name on and properly completed the application for registration to vote shall be registered by the registrar in the voting precinct of the residence of such person through the Statewide Elections Management System.
(2) Every person entitled to be registered as an elector in compliance with the laws of this state and who registers to vote pursuant to the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 shall be registered by the registrar in the voting precinct of the residence of such person through the Statewide Elections Management System.
(3) Every person entitled to vote by absentee shall have all absentee applications processed by the registrar through the Statewide Election Management System. The registrar shall account for all absentee ballots delivered to such voters and received from such voters through the Statewide Election Management System.
(4) Every person entitled to be preregistered as an elector in compliance with the laws of this state and who has signed his name on and properly completed the application for preregistration to vote shall be preregistered by the registrar in the voting precinct of the residence of the person through the Statewide Elections Management System.
SECTION 4. Section 23-15-37, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
23-15-37. (1) The registrar shall keep his books open at his office and shall register the electors of his county at any time during regular office hours.
(2) The registrar may keep his office open for registration of voters from 8:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m., including the noon hour, for the five (5) business days immediately preceding the thirtieth day prior to any regularly scheduled primary or general election. The registrar shall also keep his office open from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon on the Saturday immediately preceding the thirtieth day prior to any regularly scheduled primary or general election. (3) The registrar, or any deputy registrar duly appointed by law, may visit and spend such time as he may deem necessary at any location in his county, selected by the registrar not less than thirty (30) days before an election, for the purpose of registering voters.
(4) A person who is physically disabled and unable to visit the office of the registrar to register to vote due to such disability may contact the registrar and request that the registrar or his deputy visit him for the purpose of registering such person to vote. The registrar or his deputy shall visit such person as soon as possible after such request and provide such person with an application for registration, if necessary. The completed application for registration shall be executed in the presence of the registrar or his deputy.
(5) (a) In the fall and
spring of each year the registrar of each county shall furnish all public
schools with mail-in voter registration and preregistration
applications. * * *
These applications shall be provided in a reasonable time to enable
those students who will be eighteen (18) years of age before a general election
to be able to vote in the primary and general elections.
(b) Each public school district shall permit access to all public schools of this state for the registrar or his deputy for the purpose of preregistration and registration of persons eligible to vote and for providing voter education.
SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2014.
