Opinion ID: 1901640
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 9

Heading: Gower's actions with regard to absentee ballots.

Text: ¶ 31. This Court has discussed the potential problem that absentee ballots may present to the integrity of the electoral process as follow: As opposed to voting at the polls, in a public setting where the integrity of the election process can be ensured, absentee voting takes place in a private setting where the opportunity for fraud is greater. To ensure the integrity of the election process through absentee voting, the legislature has seen fit to provide other safeguards. These provisions are mandatory. Campbell v. Whittington, 733 So.2d 820, 827 (Miss.1999). Further: Under Miss.Code Ann. § 23-15-635 (Rev.1990), the absent voter must vote his ballot in the presence of an attesting witness, place the ballot in the envelope, and sign the elector's certificate across the flap. The voter and the witness then swear that this process was followed. These safeguards are all that ensure the integrity of the absentee ballot process. If these mandates are not followed and the integrity of the absentee ballots is questioned, the absentee ballots should not be counted. 733 So.2d at 827 (citations omitted). ¶ 32. This Court requires strict compliance with statutes governing absentee voting. Lewis, 664 So.2d at 185 (invalidating three absentee ballots delivered by town clerk to clerk's able-bodied relatives while town hall was officially closed over weekend). In Stringer v. Lucas, 608 So.2d 1351, 1361 (Miss.1992), we reversed the granting of a directed verdict for failure to strictly follow the statute in regard to absentee ballots, stating: It is imperative that the appropriate elected officials strictly adhere to the statutes concerning absentee ballots. Recent elections appear to have had wholesale disregard for law regulating the use of absentee ballots. This Court, where called on to do so, will require strict compliance and we call on others to do likewise. A motion for directed verdict was inappropriate in the face of a wealth of statutory election violations. ¶ 33. However, mere technical irregularities in the casting of a ballot are not grounds for invalidation absent evidence of fraud or intentional wrongdoing. Campbell, 733 So.2d at 826. In Campbell, this Court affirmed the invalidation of twenty absentee ballots where those ballots had all been witnessed by the same person, where several voters had not affixed their signatures to the ballot (either because they were illiterate or because they were disabled), and where one voter repudiated her absentee ballot on the witness stand. Id. at 826. ¶ 34. In the case sub judice, Peter Gower admitted to actually completing perhaps as many as thirty absentee ballots on behalf of illiterate and/or disabled voters. This clearly calls into question the integrity of these absentee ballots. Taking the reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to Straughter, a jury might have concluded that some or all of those thirty ballots should have been invalidated.