Opinion ID: 65363
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Mississippi Electoral Processes

Text: In addition to serving as the local governing body of the Democratic Party, NDEC and its chair are responsible for conducting the county’s Democratic primary elections. See MISS. CODE ANN. § 23-15-263(1).1 Such a task includes 1 Section 23-15-263(1) states that: [T]he county executive committee at primary elections shall perform all duties that relate to the qualification of candidates for primary elections, print ballots for primary elections, appoint the primary election officers, resolve contests in regard to primary elections, and perform all other duties required by law to be performed by the county executive committee . . . . 2 qualifying candidates, printing absentee ballots, preparing ballots for the polls, appointing and training poll managers and clerks to staff the polls on election day, and generally supervising the primary election. See id. § 23-15-263(1).2 The district court’s determinations, in both the liability ruling and the remedial order, focus specifically on the defendants’ failures with regard to observing Mississippi’s absentee ballot requirements, applying Mississippi’s specific method for counting absentee ballots, and preventing the illegal assistance of voters. Mississippi’s absentee voting provisions are “intended to ensure the integrity of absentee ballots,” and, accordingly, the Mississippi Supreme Court “requires strict compliance with the statutes concerning absentee ballots.” Lewis v. Griffith, 664 So. 2d 177, 185 (Miss. 1995). In Mississippi, a voter may vote by absentee ballot either by appearing in person at the county registrar’s office or by requesting an absentee ballot by mail and mailing the ballot back. See MISS. CODE ANN. § 23-15-715. To vote by mail, the voter must meet specific statutory requirements: she must either be at least sixty-five years old; disabled; temporarily residing outside the county; or staying with a spouse, parent, or child who is hospitalized more than fifty miles away on election day. See id. § 23-15-715(b). After applying to vote by absentee ballot, the voter then receives a ballot and its corresponding return envelope, on the back of which is printed an affidavit for the voter to complete. See id. § 23-15-635. In the case of an See also id. § 23-15-401 (“The term ‘officials in charge of the election’ shall mean . . . the county executive committee . . . .”). 2 With specific regard to manning the polls, the executive committee must meet no later than two weeks prior to a primary election in order to appoint managers and, where permitted, clerks to work at each polling precinct. See id. § 23-15-265(1). The committee must name at least three managers per precinct, see id. § 23-15-231, but it may designate up to an additional three persons to serve either as managers or clerks, see id. § 23-15-235. Additional clerks may be appointed if the voting precinct contains more than 500 registered voters. Id. The committee must then sponsor training sessions for the election managers no less than five days prior to the primary election. See id. § 23-15-239(1). 3 absentee voter who is not disabled, this affidavit must be completed in the presence of an official authorized to administer oaths—i.e., a notary public. See id. § 23-15-721. Finally, the voter must sign her name across the envelope’s flap. See id. § 23-15-633. On election day, the absentee ballots are inspected for compliance with the above statutes and, if compliant, are counted. Candidates or their representatives may observe this counting and may lodge challenges against a ballot or a ballot’s affidavit. See id. §§ 23-15-577, -581, -643.3 The counting process is set out by § 23-15-639(1): first, the manager must announce the name, address, and precinct inscribed on each envelope; and second, the signature of the voter’s absentee ballot application must be compared to the signature on the absentee ballot’s envelope. See also id. § 23-15-643 (“If the officials are satisfied that the affidavit is sufficient and that the absentee voter is otherwise qualified to vote, an official shall announce the name of the voter and shall give any person present an opportunity to challenge in like manner . . . .”). If the affidavit is insufficient or the signatures fail to match, then the ballot must be marked “REJECTED” and kept apart from the accepted ballots. See id. § 23-15-641. Finally, Mississippi permits assisting voters while they cast their ballots at the poll, but this permission is not without limit. Assistance may only be provided after a voter requests it and if the voter is either blind, disabled, or 3 Section 23-15-577 states that the poll managers must publicly count the ballots and that: Each candidate shall have the right, either in person or by a representative to be named by him, to be present at the polling place, and the managers shall provide him and his representative with a suitable position from which he or his representative may be able to carefully inspect the manner in which the election is held. He or his representative shall be allowed to challenge the qualifications of any person offering to vote, and his challenge shall be considered and acted upon by the managers. Regarding observation of the ballots, § 23-15-581 dictates that “[c]andidates or their duly authorized representatives shall have the right to reasonably view and inspect the ballots as and when they are taken from the box and counted.” 4 unable to read. See id. § 23-15-549 (“Any voter who declares to the managers of the election that he requires assistance to vote by reason of blindness, disability or inability to read or write may be given assistance by a person of the voter’s choice . . . .” (emphasis added)); see also O’Neal v. Simpson, 350 So. 2d 998, 1009 (Miss. 1977) (“We hold that before any voter may receive assistance in marking his ballot, he must first request assistance from the managers of the election who must be satisfied that the voter is either blind, physically disabled or illiterate and needs assistance in marking his ballot. . . . [A]ll voters are not entitled to assistance in marking their ballots, but only the blind, physically disabled or illiterate may receive assistance in marking their ballots.”). With this picture of Mississippi’s election requirements in mind, we turn to the district court’s findings regarding how defendants’ conduct abused this process to the detriment of the county’s white voters.