They raise several issues: 1) The governor gets to do what he wants and can’t be questioned by the courts (I’m not kidding); 2) They are following the statute; 3) The order, by overtuning deadlines for approving the ballot, effectively enjoins a national election and that’s got to be illegal; and 4) The order changes the voting procedure and thus violates the Voting Rights Act because it has not been precleared. I’ve talked about the first argument a little elsewhere. The last one is an invert of the truth it seems to me– the statutes say “national elections first,” and the Governor and Secretary of State have voted to change that.
Here’s a key part of what they say about whether they followed the statute:
Miss. CodeA nn. $ 23-15-367( 1972) establishes the procedure for sending a sample ballot for the regular e lection to the county election commissioners before the general election. The statute gives the Governor the sole authority to approve the form of the ballot; it gives the Secretary of Statet he duty to send the sample ballot once approved by the Governor to the county election commissioners Miss. Code Ann. $ 3-15-361(1 912)( “It is the duty of the Secretary of State, with the approval of the Governor, to fumish the designated commissioner of each county a sample of the official ballot, not less than fifty-five (55) days prior to the election, the general form of which shall be followed as nearly as practicable.”) The statute is entirely silent about where special election candidates are to be placed on the sample ballot, including candidates for a special U.S.S enatee lection.
This of course fails to quote the full language of the statute, which says:
(1) Except as otherwise provided by Sections 23-15-974 through 23-15-985 and subsection (2) of this section, the arrangement of the names of the candidates, and the order in which the titles of the various offices shall be printed, and the size, print and quality of paper of the official ballot is left to the discretion of the officer charged with printing the official ballot; but the arrangement need not be uniform.
(2) The titles for the various offices shall be listed in the following order:
(a) Candidates for national office;
(b) Candidates for statewide office;
(c) Candidates for state district office;
(d) Candidates for legislative office;
(e) Candidates for countywide office;
(f) Candidates for county district office.
The order in which the titles for the various offices are listed within each of the categories listed in this subsection is left to the discretion of the officer charged with printing the official ballot.
NMC at FOLO
9/11/8
Magnolia Tribune
