Opinion ID: 1711382
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Could the trial court properly allow a partial revote?

Text: ¶ 17. Miss.Code Ann. § 23-15-593 controls the contesting of primary elections. That section allows an executive committee, an election commission, or a court upon review to order a partial revote when it is found that there have been failures in material particulars to comply with the requirements of Section 23-15-591 [requirements and security regarding the results of the election] and Section 23-15-895 [regulation of campaign material within 150 feet of polls] to such an extent that it is impossible to arrive at the will of the voters at such precinct. (emphasis added). More simply put, if the specified failures are present, and the will of the voters cannot be determined, a revote is proper. ¶ 18. We have little precedent regarding the application of Section 23-15-593. Rizzo v. Bizzell, 530 So.2d 121 (Miss.1988), concerned a contested supervisor's race in Bolivar County where a candidate's sister-in-law handed out campaign literature too close to a polling place, in violation of § 23-15-895. Id. at 122. Yet [t]he special judge ... found that the violation was technical, not `material,' and [so] the will of the voters at that precinct could be ascertained [without a revote]. Id. at 127. ¶ 19. In the case sub judice, the problems are not technical; an entire sub-precinct was not allowed to vote. There can be no Rizzo interpretation of the will of the voters, because those voters were never allowed to vote. This case is markedly different from Rizzo, and the trial court appropriately ordered a revote in the excluded areas in complete accordance with procedures mandated by the Legislature. Because they were mistakenly not allowed to vote the first time, those voters were properly allowed to vote by the trial court.