Mississippi Statutes § 23-15-913 Judges to be available to hear and resolve election day disputes
Statute Text
(1)
The judges listed and selected to hear election disputes, as provided in Section
23-15-951
, shall be available on election day to immediately hear and resolve any election day disputes.
The name of any judge selected to hear election day disputes shall be provided to the Secretary of State by the Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court at the time the appointment is made, unless the Secretary of State is a party to the election day dispute to which that special circuit judge is appointed.
(2)
The rules for filing pleadings shall be relaxed to carry out the purposes of this section. The judges selected shall perform no other judicial duties on election day.
If an election day dispute occurs, the circuit clerk shall only docket the dispute to the judge designated by the Supreme Court to hear the case in that county. All election day disputes arising in one county shall go to the same judge in that county unless the judge is absent or unavailable. When such election day dispute is filed, the circuit clerk shall immediately notify by phone, email or personally, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, or in his or her absence or disability, some other Justice of the Supreme Court, who shall forthwith notify the assigned special judge from the list of judges who were preselected to hear election day disputes, to proceed to the county in which the dispute has been filed to hear and determine the complaint. The circuit clerk shall cause a copy of such petition to be served upon the contestee, which shall serve as notice to such contestee. In the list provided,
the Supreme Court shall
[* * *]
specify which
judges
shall be
available to hear disputes in
[* * *]
each
county in which the disputes occur
,
but no judge shall hear disputes in the district or county in which he or she was elected nor shall any judge hear any dispute in which any potential conflict may arise. Each judge shall be fair and impartial and shall be assigned on that basis.
(3)
The listed and selected judges provided by the Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court shall have sole jurisdiction to hear election day disputes. Election disputes can only be filed in a circuit court with proper jurisdiction and heard by one (1) of the judges selected by the Chief Justice of the Mississippi Supreme Court.
Source
Laws, 1999 , ch. 301 , § 15 ; Laws, 2012 , ch. 473 , § 1 , eff. 9/6/2012 (the date the United States Attorney General interposed no objection under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965).
History
Amended by Laws, 2024 , ch. 462 , HB 1135 , § 1 , eff. 7/1/2024 .
Amended by Laws, 2017 , ch. 441 , HB 467 , 154 , eff. 7/1/2017 .
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