Bill Text: MS HB866 | 2016 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Election Crimes; revise penalties for.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2016-04-18 - Approved by Governor [HB866 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2016-HB866-Enrolled.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2016 Regular Session
To: Apportionment and Elections
By: Representative Denny
House Bill 866
(As Sent to Governor)
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTIONS 97-13-1, 97-13-3, 97-13-5, 97-13-7, 97-13-9, 97-13-13, 97-13-15, 97-13-19, 97-13-21, 97-13-23, 97-13-25, 97-13-27, 97-13-29, 97-13-31, 97-13-33, 97-13-35, 97-13-36, 97-13-37 AND 97-13-39, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE PENALTIES FOR VIOLATION OF VARIOUS ELECTION CRIMES; TO CREATE SECTIONS 97-13-41, 97-13-43 AND 97-13-45, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO RECODIFY PROVISIONS IN CURRENT LAW THAT MAKE IT UNLAWFUL TO MAKE A FALSE ENTRY OR UNAUTHORIZED ALTERATION TO THE STATEWIDE ELECTIONS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM OR A POLL BOOK, MAKE IT UNLAWFUL TO TAMPER WITH OR DAMAGE VOTING MACHINES OR TABULATING EQUIPMENT, MAKE IT UNLAWFUL TO A VOTER TO ALLOW HIS OR HER BALLOT TO BE SEEN BY ANY PERSON OR MAKE A FALSE STATEMENT AS TO HIS INABILITY TO MARK A BALLOT; TO REPEAL SECTIONS 23-15-117, 23-15-531.13 AND 23-15-555, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, WHICH MAKE IT UNLAWFUL TO MAKE FALSE ENTRIES OR UNAUTHORIZED REVISION TO POLL BOOKS, WHICH MAKE IT UNLAWFUL FOR A VOTER TO SHOW HIS BALLOT TO ANY OTHER PERSON, MAKE A FALSE STATEMENT AS TO HIS INABILITY TO READ THE BALLOT OR INTERFERE WITH ANY VOTER INSIDE THE VOTING COMPARTMENT; TO PROVIDE PENALTIES FOR VIOLATIONS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 97-13-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-1. If any elector, manager, clerk or canvasser at any election, or any executive officer attending the same, shall receive any gift, money, financial award, reward, or promise thereof or if any person shall offer such gift, money, financial award, reward, or promise thereof to influence any elector, clerk, canvasser, or any executive officer attending any election in his vote, opinion, action, or judgment in relation to such election, the person so offending shall, on conviction, be imprisoned in the State Penitentiary not more than two (2) years, or be fined not more than Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00), or both; or in a county jail not more than one (1) year, or be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both.
SECTION 2. Section 97-13-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-3. If any person
shall offer or give a gift, money, financial award, reward or other
promise thereof to another for the purpose of inducing him, by any unlawful
means not amounting to bribery, to procure any person to vote at any election
for or against any person or measure, the person so giving or offering
such reward shall, upon conviction thereof, be imprisoned in the county jail
not more than one (1) year, or fined not more than * * * One Thousand
Dollars ($1,000.00), or both.
SECTION 3. Section 97-13-5, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-5. Any such manager who
shall proceed to any election without having the ballot box locked and secured
in the manner directed by law, or who shall open and read or consent to any
other person opening and reading any ballot given him to be deposited in the
box at such election, before it is put into the box, shall, upon conviction, be * * * imprisoned in the county jail not * * * more than one (1) year, or be fined not
more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both.
SECTION 4. Section 97-13-7, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-7. Any manager of * * * an * * * election who, before the
votes are counted, shall dispose of or deposit the ballot box in a manner not
authorized by law, or shall, at any time after the election has begun and
before the ballots are counted, give * * * access to the ballot box with
which he is entrusted to any other, shall, upon conviction, be * * * imprisoned in the county jail not * * * more than one (1) year, or be fined not more than Three
Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00), or both.
SECTION 5. Section 97-13-9, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-9. If any manager or
clerk of any * * * election shall knowingly make or consent to any false
entry on the list of persons voting, or shall permit to be put in the ballot
box any ballot not given by a voter, or shall take out of such box, or permit
to be so taken out, any ballot deposited therein except in the manner
prescribed by law, or shall, by any other act or omission, designedly destroy
or change the ballots given by the electors, he shall, upon conviction, be
punished by imprisonment in the State Penitentiary for a term not
exceeding five (5) years, or be fined not more than Five Thousand
Dollars ($5,000.00).
SECTION 6. Section 97-13-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-13. If any person
shall take or remove any ballot from a voting place before the close of the
polls, he shall, on conviction, be * * * imprisoned in the county jail not * * * more than one (1) year, or be fined
not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both.
SECTION 7. Section 97-13-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-19. If any manager,
clerk, or any other officer whatever, assisting or engaged in conducting any
election, or charged with any duty in reference to any election, shall
designedly omit to do any official act required by law, or designedly do any
illegal act in relation to any * * * election, by which act or
omission the votes taken at any such election in any district shall be lost, or
the electors thereof shall be deprived of their suffrage at such election, or
shall designedly do any act which shall render such election void, or shall be
guilty of any corrupt conduct or partiality in his official capacity at such
election, he shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned, in the * * *
county jail not more than one
(1) year, or be fined not more than Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00), or both.
SECTION 8. Section 97-13-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-21. If any person
shall unlawfully disturb any election * * * at a polling place,
the office of the circuit clerk, or where ballots are located, such person
shall be liable to indictment, and, on conviction, * * * be * * *
imprisoned in the county jail not * * * more than one (1) year, or be fined
not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both.
SECTION 9. Section 97-13-23, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-23. If any manager or
returning officer shall fail or refuse to make return of the votes cast in any
election, as required of him, he shall, on conviction, be imprisoned in the State
Penitentiary not * * * more than two (2) years, or be fined not more than Three
Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00), or both; or in a county jail not more than one
(1) year, or be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both.
SECTION 10. Section 97-13-25, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-25. Any person who
shall knowingly procure his or any person's registration as a qualified
elector, when * * *
the person whose registration is being procured is not entitled to be
registered as such, or under a false name, or as a qualified elector in any
other election * * *
precinct than that in which he or she resides, shall, on
conviction, be imprisoned in the State Penitentiary for a term not to
exceed * * *
five (5) years, or be fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars
($5,000.00), or both.
SECTION 11. Section 97-13-27, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-27. If any registrar
appointed by law to register votes shall intentionally refuse or neglect to register
any voter entitled to registration, or register any voter not entitled to
registration, he shall be punished, on conviction, * * *
be imprisoned in the State Penitentiary not more than two (2) years, or be
fined not more than Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00), or both; or in a county
jail not more than one (1) year, or be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars
($1,000.00), or both.
SECTION 12. Section 97-13-29, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-29. It shall not be
lawful for any military officer or other persons to order, bring, or keep any
troops of armed men at any place within a mile of the place where any * * * election is held, unless it
be for the purpose of quelling a riot or insurrection, in the manner provided
by law, or for the purpose of defense in time of war; and whoever shall violate
the provisions of this section shall, on conviction, be * * * imprisoned in the county jail not
more than one (1) year, or be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars
($1,000.00), or both.
SECTION 13. Section 97-13-31, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-31. If any election
officer or other person, except as authorized by law, shall aid or assist, or
influence, a voter in preparing a ballot, or shall attempt so to do, he or
she shall, on conviction, be * * * imprisoned in the county jail not more than one (1) year, or
be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both.
SECTION 14. Section 97-13-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-33. When * * * one who offers to vote at an election shall
be objected to by any challenger as a person unqualified to vote, if the
manager of such election shall permit him to vote without honestly considering
his qualifications, or if any manager shall refuse the vote of such person
without honestly considering his qualifications, or if any manager shall
knowingly permit an unqualified person to vote, or shall knowingly refuse the
vote of a qualified person, he shall, upon conviction, be * * *
imprisoned in the county jail
not more than one (1) year, or be fined not more than Three Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00), or both.
SECTION 15. Section 97-13-35, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-35. (1) Any
person who shall vote at any election, not being legally qualified, or who
shall vote in more than one (1) county, or at more than one (1) place in
any county or in any city, town, or village entitled to separate
representation, or who shall vote out of the district of his legal domicile, or
who shall vote or attempt to vote in the primary election of one (1)
party when he shall have voted on the same date in the primary election of
another party, shall, * * * upon
conviction, * * * be imprisoned in the county jail not more
than one (1) year, or be fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both.
(2) Any person who shall vote in the second primary election of one (1) party when he voted in the first primary election of another party preceding the same regular, special, or general election shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a misdemeanor and be imprisoned in the county jail not more than six (6) months, or be fined not more than Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00), or both.
SECTION 16. Section 97-13-36, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-36. Any person who
shall knowingly vote at any election in more than one (1) county or at more
than one (1) place in any county, municipality or other political subdivision
with the intent to have more than one (1) vote counted in any election shall be
guilty of the crime of multiple voting and, upon conviction, shall be * * * imprisoned in the State Penitentiary not
more than five (5) years, or be fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars
($5,000.00), or both; or in a county jail not more than one (1) year, or be
fined not more than One Thousand Dollars ($1,000.00), or both.
SECTION 17. Section 97-13-37, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-37. Whoever shall
procure, or endeavor to procure, the vote of any elector, or the influence of
any person over other electors, at any election, for himself or any candidate,
by means of violence, threats of violence, or threats of withdrawing custom, or
dealing in business or trade, or of enforcing the payment of a debt, or of
bringing a suit or criminal prosecution, or by any other threat or injury to be
inflicted by him, or by his means, or shall violate any provision of
Section 23-15-871 or 23-15-874, shall, upon conviction, be * * * imprisoned in
the county jail not more than one (1) year, or be fined not more than Three
Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00), or both.
SECTION 18. Section 97-13-39, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-13-39. (1) If
any person shall, by illegal force, or threats of force, prevent, or endeavor
to prevent, any elector from giving his vote, he shall, upon conviction, be * * * imprisoned in the county jail not more than one (1) year, or * * * be fined not more than Three
Thousand Dollars ($3,000.00), or both.
(2) If any person shall, utilize the requirements to provide voter identification to intimidate a voter, or to prevent a person from voting who is otherwise qualified to vote shall, upon conviction, be imprisoned in the State Penitentiary not more than five (5) years, or fined not more than Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or both.
SECTION 19. This section shall be codified as Section 97-13-41, Mississippi Code of 1972:
97-13-41. Any person who shall knowingly make a false entry, unauthorized revision, removal, or alteration in the Statewide Elections Management System or poll book, shall, upon conviction thereof, be imprisoned in the State Penitentiary for a term not exceeding ten (10) years, and be liable to the action of the aggrieved party.
SECTION 20. This section shall be codified as Section 97-13-43, Mississippi Code of 1972:
97-13-43. Any person who willfully tampers with or damages any voting machine or tabulating computer or device to be used or being used at or in connection with any election or who prevents or attempts to prevent the correct operation of any voting machine or tabulating computer or device shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, be punished by imprisonment for not more than ten (10) years, or be fined Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000.00), or both.
SECTION 21. This section shall be codified as Section 97-13-45, Mississippi Code of 1972:
97-13-45. Any voter who shall, except as provided by law, allow his ballot to be seen by any person, or who shall make a false statement as to his inability to mark his ballot, or who shall place any mark upon his ballot by which it can afterwards be identified as the ballot voted by him, shall be punished by a fine of not less than Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) nor more than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00).
SECTION 22. Sections 23-15-117, 23-15-531.13 and 23-15-555, Mississippi Code of 1972, which make it unlawful to make false entries or unauthorized revision to poll books, which make it unlawful for a voter to show his ballot to any other person, make a false statement as to his inability to read the ballot or interfere with any voter inside the voting compartment, are repealed.
SECTION 23. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after January 1, 2017.
