Mississippi Statutes § 23-15-699 Transmission of absentee ballots and balloting materials to absent voters and receipt of voted absentee ballots, federal postcard applications and Federal Write-In-Absentee Ballots by mail, facsimile or electronic mail delivery
Statute Text
(1)
Absent voters who have requested to receive absentee ballots and balloting materials may choose to receive such ballots and balloting materials by mail, facsimile device (FAX) or electronic mail delivery (e-mail). The Secretary of State shall establish procedures that allow an absent voter to make the choice authorized by this subsection.
(2)
Consistent with the choice that the absent voter exercises pursuant to subsection (1) of this section, the registrar shall, in addition to mail, be authorized to use electronic facsimile (FAX) devices and electronic mail delivery (e-mail) to transmit balloting materials and absentee ballots. If the absent voter does not indicate a preference, delivery of such information shall be by mail.
(3)
The registrar is authorized to receive by electronic facsimile (FAX) devices and electronic mail delivery (e-mail):
(a)
Voted absentee ballots;
(b)
Completed federal postcard applications as described in Section
23-15-677
, which shall serve to request absentee ballots or to register to vote or to do both simultaneously; and
(c)
Completed Federal Write-In-Absentee Ballots as described in Section
23-15-692
.
(4)
Once the registrar has received a voted absentee ballot pursuant to this section, he shall place the ballot in an absentee ballot envelope designated for absentee ballots under this subarticle and fill out the required information on the envelope. The registrar shall then notate on the envelope that the ballot was received under this section and a signature across the flap of the envelope shall not be required. Except as provided in this section, absentee ballots received under this subsection shall be treated in the same manner as other absentee ballots received under this subarticle.
(5)
Access to voted absentee ballots before they are placed in an absentee ballot envelope shall be strictly limited to election officials who must process the ballot and any election official who views the ballots before they are placed in the envelope shall have the duty to protect the secrecy of the ballot choices; however, the failure of an election official to comply with this subsection shall not invalidate the ballot.
(6)
Each circuit clerk shall furnish a suitable electronic mail delivery (e-mail) address that can be used to allow absent voters to comply with the provisions of this subarticle. Absentee ballots returned by mail by any absent voter as defined in Section
23-15-673
must be received by the registrar by the deadline for receipt of mail absentee ballots provided for in Section
23-15-637
.
Source
Laws, 1993, ch. 528, § 13; Laws, 2000 , ch. 519 , § 6 ; Laws, 2010 , ch. 446 , § 6 ; Laws, 2012 , ch. 465 , § 3 , eff. 9/17/2012 (the date the United States Attorney General interposed no objection under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965). .
History
Amended by Laws, 2020 , ch. 472 , HB 1521 , § 16 , eff. 7/8/2020 .
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