Jackson Free Press

[Verbatim from the Secretary of State's office] The Office of Secretary of State has devoted many hours researching the ballot order for the 2008 General Election. Our office has researched not only the applicable Mississippi statutes, but also prior opinions of the Attorney General, and minutes of prior meetings of the State Board of Election Commissioners.

According to Miss. Code Ann § 23-15-511, State statute requires all general election candidates be "clearly distinguished" from special election candidates. In 1990, 1991, and 1992, all special elections were at the end of the ballot. In 2002, 2004, and 2006, former Secretary of State Eric Clark stated the order of the ballot should be as follows (1) U.S. Senate, (2) U.S. House of Representatives, (3) Regular School Board and School Board Trustee elections, (4) Nonpartisan Judicial Elections, (5) Constitutional
Amendments, and (6) Special Elections (other than special non partisan judicial elections).

"Miss. Code Ann § 23-15-367 requires the Secretary of State to prepare the sample ballot. The Governor has the right to approve the ballot," says Secretary Hosemann. "The Governor was presented with two ballots by the Secretary of State. As provided by statutory law, Governor Barbour approved the sample ballot attached, clearly distinguishing the Senate Race for the unexpired term. Mississippi voting law was followed."

Seventy-nine of Mississippi's 82 counties use electronic voting machines. If a Mississippi voter overlooks a particular race on the ballot, or simply chooses not to vote in a particular race, the voter will have to decide not to vote in that race three times before their ballot is cast. The skipped race is clearly distinguished in red from the races in which a vote was cast, which is distinguished in blue.

Furthermore, to address concerns of a 'drop-off' of voters, after reviewing the institution of electronic voting and the 2004 Federal Election and the 2007 Statewide Election, there was not a significant decrease in votes from the beginning of the ballot to the end of the ballot and in one particular race, actually increased vote totals.

"We believe Mississippi voters are capable to read through the entire ballot. To suggest otherwise disrespects the voter," says Secretary Hosemann. "The People of the State of Mississippi will determine the results of this election as they have every other election."

Previous Comments

ID

135513

Comment

Response from Musgrove's campaign [verbatim]: Secretary of State Presents Unlawful Ballot, Buries US Senate Race in Ballot Secretary Hosemann Unable to Cite any Statute to Move Race from Top Jackson, MS- Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann today presented an unlawful sample ballot which buries the special US Senate race between Governor Ronnie Musgrove and interim US Senator Roger Wicker. The ballot was approved by Governor Haley Barbour. Hosemann buried the Musgrove-Wicker race below all local races near the bottom of the ballot. Hosemann could cite no statue supporting his decision to move the race from the top of the ballot. However, Attorney General Jim Hood did cite election law requiring federal races be placed at the top of the ballot. "We will win this election no matter where the Secretary of State puts it on the ballot," Tim Phillips, Musgrove for Senate campaign manager said. "But this is about the law and they don't get to make up their own laws." The unlawful ballot is expected to cause confusion for voters expecting to find the Musgrove-Wicker race with other federal elections where it belongs. The most prominent election in the state will be one of the hardest races to find on Election Day. Mississippi election law, 20 code 23-15-367, clearly states federal races, like the Musgrove-Wicker race, belong on the top of the ballot.

Author

Todd Stauffer

Date

2008-09-09T13:09:43-06:00

ID

135514

Comment

I don't really understand why this is such a big deal. On the new electronic machines you are reminded that you overlooked an election if you missed it, accidentally or intentionally. More importantly I truly hope we don't have any elections decided by voters so uninformed that they don't know this race is on the ticket and aren't familiar with the candidates.

Author

kudzuking

Date

2008-09-09T13:38:56-06:00

ID

135525

Comment

As this heats up nationally, Barbour issued a statement tonight depending his actions: STATEMENT OF GOVERNOR HALEY BARBOUR REGARDING PREPARATION OF 2008 BALLOT September 9, 2008 Since 2002, two different Governors and two different Secretaries of State from both political parties have approved ballots placing special elections at the end of the ballot. When Democrats say this dispute is about politics, they are right. Democratic Attorney General Jim Hood and his surrogates continue to play politics with one of the fundamental rights we have as citizens: the right to vote. When Democrat Eric Clark was Secretary of State, the sample ballots he prepared in 2002, 2004 and 2006 included special elections at the end of the sample ballot. In each of those years, Secretary Clark also included specific instructions to the county election commissioners that special elections should be placed at the end of the ballot. Then-Governor Ronnie Musgrove approved the 2002 sample ballot prepared by Secretary Clark. I approved the 2004 and 2006 sample ballots prepared by Secretary Clark. Now, Republican Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann has taken exactly the same position as his Democratic predecessor. My position on the placement of special elections on the ballot has remained the same. I approved the sample ballots prepared by Eric Clark and Delbert Hosemann, both with special elections at the end of the ballot.

Author

DonnaLadd

Date

2008-09-09T20:28:34-06:00