Mississippi Code 1972 (2023) › Title 23 - ELECTIONS (§§ 23-NEW-NEW-001 — 23-17-61) › Chapter 15 - MISSISSIPPI ELECTION CODE (§§ 23-15-NEW — 23-15-1111) › Article 17 - CONDUCT OF ELECTIONS (§§ 23-15-541 — 23-15-615) › Subarticle C - DETERMINING THE RESULTS OF ELECTIONS (§§ 23-15-591 — 23-15-615) › Section 23-15-611 - Determination of municipal elections; show cause order may be issued for failure to transmit statement certifying names of persons elected

(1)
In municipal elections, poll managers shall, immediately upon the closing of the polls, count the ballots and ascertain the number of votes cast in each voting precinct for each of the candidates or ballot measures and make a return thereof to the municipal election commissioners. On the day following the election, the election commissioners shall canvass the returns so received from all voting precincts and shall, within six (6) days after the election, deliver to each person receiving the highest number of votes a certificate of election. If it shall appear that any two (2) or more of the candidates receiving the highest number of votes shall have received an equal number of votes, the election shall be decided by a toss of a coin or by lot fairly and publicly drawn under the direction of the election commissioners.
(2)
(a)
Within six (6) days after any election, the municipal election commissioners shall transmit a statement to the Secretary of State certifying the name or names of the person or persons elected, and such person or persons shall be issued commissions by the Governor. The statement shall also include vote totals for each candidate for each office and vote totals for and against ballot measures, if any, including the vote totals for each candidate and ballot measure in each precinct in the municipality.
(b)
The statements required by this subsection (2) shall contain a certification, signed and dated by a majority of the municipal election commissioners, which shall read as follows:
"We, the undersigned municipal election commissioners, do hereby certify that this statement contains the official vote for the election reflected therein."
(c)
The statements required by this subsection (2) shall be transmitted to the Secretary of State on such forms and by such methods as may be required by rules and regulations promulgated by the Secretary of State.
(d)
If the statement certifying the names of the persons elected is not transmitted to the Secretary of State as required by this subsection (2), the Secretary of State may issue a show cause order directing the municipal election commissioners to provide to the Secretary of State written response containing the reasons for their failure to transmit the statement. The municipal election commissioners shall file their response to the show cause order with the Secretary of State within five (5) working days after the issuance of the show cause order. If the statement certifying the names of the persons elected is not transmitted to the Secretary of State within five (5) working days after the issuance of the show cause order, the Secretary of State may petition a court of competent jurisdiction to compel the municipal election commissioners to comply with this subsection (2). If the statement certifying the names of the persons elected is received by the Secretary of State within five (5) days after the issuance of the show cause order, a response to the show cause order shall not be required.
Derived from 1972 Code § 21-11-13 [Codes, 1892, § 3032; 1906, § 3437; Hemingway's 1917, § 5997; 1930, § 2599; 1942, § 3374-65; Laws, 1950, ch. 491, § 65; repealed by Laws, 1986, ch. 495, § 329]; Laws, 1986, ch. 495, § 197; Laws, 2002, ch. 534, § 7; Laws, 2010, ch. 400, § 1, eff. 7/15/2010 (the date the United States Attorney General interposed no objection under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965).
Amended by Laws, 2017, ch. 441, HB 467, 129, eff. 7/1/2017.