MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2009

MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2009 By: Senator(s) Burton, King, Kirby, Fillingane, Davis (1st), Browning, Watson To: Elections SENATE BILL NO. 2548 (As Passed the Senate) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 AN ACT TO REQUIRE PERSONS WHO APPEAR TO VOTE IN PERSON AT A POLLING PLACE OR THE REGISTRAR'S OFFICE TO IDENTIFY THEMSELVES BY PRESENTING CERTAIN TYPES OF IDENTIFICATION TO AN ELECTION MANAGER OR THE REGISTRAR BEFORE THEY ARE ALLOWED TO VOTE; TO PROVIDE FOR THE ISSUANCE OF A MISSISSIPPI VOTER IDENTIFICATION CARD FREE OF CHARGE TO QUALIFIED ELECTORS WHO DO NOT HAVE A VALID MISSISSIPPI DRIVER'S LICENSE OR IDENTIFICATION CARD; TO PROVIDE THAT SUCH CARD SHALL BE VALID ONLY AS IDENTIFICATION FOR VOTING PURPOSES; TO AMEND SECTIONS 23-15-11, 23-15-541 AND 23-15-719, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY THERETO; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES. BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI: SECTION 1. (1) Except as provided in subsection (3) of this section, each elector who shall appear to vote in person at a polling place or the registrar's office shall present proper identification to an election manager or the registrar before such elector shall be allowed to vote. (2) Proper identification shall consist of any one (1) of the following: (a) A Mississippi driver's license which was properly issued; (b) A Mississippi voter identification card issued under Section 2 of this act or other valid identification card issued by a branch, department, agency or entity of the State of Mississippi, any other state or the United States authorized by law to issue personal identification, provided such identification card contains a photograph of the elector; (c) A valid United States passport; (d) A valid employee identification card containing a photograph of the elector and issued by any branch, department, agency or entity of the United States government, the State of G1/2 PAGE 1

31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 Mississippi, or any county, municipality, board, authority or other entity of this state; (e) A valid United States military identification card, provided that such identification card contains a photograph of the person; or (f) A valid tribal identification card containing a photograph of the elector. (3) An elector who registered to vote by mail and who votes for the first time in this state shall present to the managers of the election or the registrar one (1) of the forms of identification listed in subsection (2) of this section or a copy of a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck or other government document that shows the name and address of the elector. If the elector does not have any of the forms of identification required by this subsection, the elector may vote by affidavit ballot as provided for in subsection (4) of this section. (4) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, if a person fails to produce any of the items of identification required by this section, the person shall be allowed to vote by affidavit ballot. The affidavit ballot shall be counted if, upon examination of the affidavit, the person is found to be a qualified elector. (5) Any person who utilizes the provisions of this section to intimidate a voter, or to prevent from voting a person who is otherwise qualified to vote, shall, upon conviction, be sentenced to pay a fine of not less than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00) or by imprisonment for not less than one (1) year nor more than five (5) years, or both. SECTION 2. (1) The registrar of each county shall provide at least one (1) place in the county at which he or she shall accept applications for and issue Mississippi voter identification cards to registered Mississippi electors which shall be valid only PAGE 2

64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 for the purpose of voter identification under Section 1 of this act and available only to registered voters of this state. No fee shall be charged or collected for the application for or issuance of a Mississippi voter identification card. (2) No person shall be eligible for a voter identification card if the person has a valid unexpired Mississippi driver's license or an identification card issued under Section 45-35-1, et seq. (3) (a) The Mississippi voter identification card shall be captioned "MISSISSIPPI VOTER IDENTIFICATION CARD" and shall contain a prominent statement that under Mississippi law it is valid only as identification for voting purposes. The identification card shall be laminated, shall contain a digital color photograph of the applicant and shall include the following information regarding the applicant: (i) Full legal name; (ii) Residence address; (iii) Date of birth; (iv) Sex; (v) Height; (vi) Weight; and (vii) Eye color. (b) The voter identification card shall also contain the date the voter identification card was issued, the county in which the identification card was issued and such other information as required by the Secretary of State. (4) The application shall be signed and sworn to by the applicant and any falsification or fraud in the making of the application shall constitute false swearing under Section 97-7-35. (5) The registrar shall require presentation and verification of the following information before issuing a Mississippi voter identification card to a person: PAGE 3

96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 (a) A photo identity document; however, a nonphoto identity document shall be acceptable if it includes both the applicant's full legal name and date of birth; the county; and (b) Documentation showing the person's date of birth; (c) Evidence that the person is registered to vote in (d) Documentation showing the person's name and address of principal residence. (6) A Mississippi voter identification card shall remain valid so long as a person resides at the same address and remains qualified to vote. It shall be the duty of a person who moves his or her residence within this state to surrender his or her voter identification card to the registrar of the county of his or her new residence and such person may thereafter apply for and receive a new card if such person is eligible under this section. It shall be the duty of a person who moves his or her residence outside this state or who ceases to be qualified to vote to surrender his or her card to the registrar who issued it. (7) The Secretary of State shall provide each registrar with the necessary equipment, forms, supplies and training for the production of the Mississippi voter identification card and shall maintain such equipment. (8) The Secretary of State shall adopt rules and regulations for the administration of this section. SECTION 3. 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 PAGE 4

129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 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 upon compliance with Section 1 of this act. 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 4. Section 23-15-541, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows: 23-15-541. (1) At all elections, the polls shall be opened at seven o'clock in the morning and be kept open until seven o'clock in the evening and no longer. Upon the opening of the polls, and not before, the managers of the election shall designate two (2) of their number, other than the manager theretofore designated to receive the blank ballots, who shall thereupon be known respectively as the initialing manager and the alternate initialing manager. The alternate initialing manager, in the absence of the initialing manager, shall perform all of the duties and undertake all of the responsibilities of the initialing manager. When any person entitled to vote shall appear to vote, the managers shall identify the voter by requiring the voter to submit identification as required by Section 1 of this act and then such person shall * * * sign his name in a receipt book or booklet provided for that purpose and to be used at that election only and said receipt book or booklet shall be used in lieu of the list of voters who have voted formerly made by the managers or PAGE 5

162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 clerks; whereupon and not before, the initialing manager or, in his absence, the alternate initialing manager shall endorse his initials on the back of an official blank ballot, prepared in accordance with law, and at such place on the back of the ballot that the initials may be seen after the ballot has been marked and folded, and when so endorsed he shall deliver it to the voter, which ballot the voter shall mark in the manner provided by law, which when done the voter shall deliver the same to the initialing manager or, in his absence, to the alternate initialing manager, in the presence of the others, and the manager shall see that the ballot so delivered bears on the back thereof the genuine initials of the initialing manager, or alternate initialing manager, and if so, but not otherwise, the ballot shall be put into the ballot box; and when so done one (1) of the managers or a duly appointed clerk shall make the proper entry on the pollbook. If the voter is unable to write his name on the receipt book, a manager or clerk shall note on the back of the ballot that it was receipted for by his assistance. (2) (a) A poll manager shall be authorized to allow a physically disabled person to vote curbside during the hours in which the polls are open as described in this section. Where the managers of an election, exercising their sound discretion, determine that a physically disabled person has arrived at the polls in a motor vehicle to vote, two (2) or more managers shall carry the pollbook, the receipt book, and a ballot or voting device to the motor vehicle, and after determining whether the disabled person is a qualified elector as provided by law, shall allow the disabled elector to cast his or her ballot in secret. After the disabled elector casts his or her ballot, the managers shall mark the pollbook "voted" by the elector's name in the pollbook. (b) If the ballot that is provided to the disabled elector is a paper ballot, the initialing manager shall initial PAGE 6

195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 the ballot as provided by law, and the disabled elector, after marking his or her ballot shall fold the ballot or place it in the ballot sleeve. The initialing manager or alternate initialing manager shall determine whether the initials on the ballot are genuine, and upon a determination that the initials are genuine, mark "voted" by the elector's name. The initialing manager or alternate initialing manager shall without delay place the ballot in the ballot box. (c) If, while a voter is voting by curbside, there are less than three (3) managers immediately present within the polling place conducting an election or a political party primary, all voting at the polls shall stop until the managers conducting the curbside voting procedure return so that there are at least three (3) poll managers immediately present within the polling place to conduct the election or party primary at all times, and until a minimum of three (3) managers are present, the remaining poll manager or managers shall ensure the security of the ballot box, the voting devices, and any ballots and election materials. SECTION 5. Section 23-15-719, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows: 23-15-719. (1) Immediately upon completion of an application filed pursuant to the provisions of paragraph (a) of Section 23-15-715, the registrar shall deliver the necessary ballots to the applicant. The registrar shall only deliver the ballots to the applicant by mail or to the applicant in the registrar's office; however, the registrar shall identify the applicant by requiring him to present identification as required by Section 1 of this act before delivering the ballots to the applicant in the office of the registrar. The registrar shall not personally hand deliver ballots to voters, unless he delivers the ballots in the office of the registrar. The elector shall fill in his ballot in secret. After the applicant has properly marked the PAGE 7

227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 ballot and properly folded it, he shall deposit it in the envelope furnished him by the registrar. After he has sealed the envelope, he shall subscribe and swear to an affidavit in the following form, which shall be printed on the back of the envelope containing the applicant's ballot: "STATE OF MISSISSIPPI COUNTY OF I,, do solemnly swear that this envelope contains the ballot marked by me indicating my choice of the candidates or propositions to be submitted at the election to be held on the day of, 2, and I hereby authorize the registrar to place this envelope in the ballot box on my behalf, and I further authorize the election managers to open this envelope and place my ballot among the other ballots cast before such ballots are counted, and record my name on the poll list as if I were present in person and voted. I further swear that I marked the enclosed ballot in secret. (Signature of voter) SWORN TO AND SUBSCRIBED before me,, this the day of, 2. (Registrar) (Registrar)" After the completion of the requirements of this section, the elector shall deliver the envelope containing the ballot to the registrar. (2) If the voter has received assistance in marking his ballot, the person providing the assistance shall complete the following form which shall be printed on the back of the envelope containing the applicant's ballot: "CERTIFICATE OF PERSON PROVIDING VOTER ASSISTANCE PAGE 8

259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 (To be completed only if the voter has received assistance in marking the enclosed ballot.) I hereby certify that the above-named voter declared to me that he or she is blind, temporarily or permanently physically disabled, or cannot read or write, and that the voter requested that I assist the voter in marking the enclosed absentee ballot. I hereby certify that the ballot preferences on the enclosed ballot are those communicated by the voter to me, and that I have marked the enclosed ballot in accordance with the voter's instructions. Signature of person providing assistance Printed name of person providing assistance Address of person providing assistance Date and time assistance provided Family relationship to voter (if any)" (3) The envelope used pursuant to this section shall not contain the form prescribed by Section 23-15-635 and shall have printed on the flap on the back of the envelope in bold print and in a distinguishing color, the following: "YOUR VOTE WILL BE REJECTED AND NOT COUNTED IF THIS ENVELOPE IS NOT SIGNED ACROSS THE FLAP OF THIS ENVELOPE BY YOU AND AN ATTESTING WITNESS." SECTION 6. 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. PAGE 9

291 292 293 SECTION 7. 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. ST: Elections; require electors to present PAGE 10 certain types of identification before being allowed to vote.