IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI

CASE NUMBER: 2014-M-00967

IN RE: CHRIS McDANIEL
PETITIONER
PETITIONER'S SUPPLEMENT TO
EMERGENCY PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS
Petitioner, Chris McDaniel, hereby supplements his Emergency Petition For Writ Of
Mandamus pursuant to the Court's July 15, 2014 Order. In further support of his petition,
Petitioner would show the Court the following:
I. What specifically is meant by election ballot boxes and their contents as
referenced in the petition and what authorities are relied upon to support the
Petition in this regard?
Mississippi's Election Code places the "ballot box" in a position as the main
repository of original documentation necessary to prove the results of an election. Though a
historical term associated with a system of paper ballots, the Election Code continues use of
the term "ballot box" adapted to retain its position as that main repository.
Without specifying size, shape, or material, the Election Code requires that ballot
boxes meet certain minimum security standards. Requirements on ballot boxes and their
contents are found in several different sections of the Code. Mississippi Code 23-15-247
and 23-15-595 address form, transportation, delivery, and security requirements for ballot
boxes. The same boxes used for general elections must be used in primary elections, with
specific security measures required during any adjournment between a poll opening and the
time the votes are counted. Mississippi Code 23-15-267. This Court has held that ballot
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box security is essential to producing an election result in which not only the voters, but the
candidates themselves, can be confident. Waters v. Gnemi, 907 So.2d 307 (Miss. 2005).
Requirements for the contents of ballot boxes are dispersed through the Election Code
in specific subject areas. These include:
The county executive committee shall designate a person
whose duty it shall be to distribute all necessary ballots for use
in a primary election, and shall designate one (1) among the
managers at each polling place to receive and receipt for the
blank ballots to be used at that place. When the blank ballots are
delivered to a local manager, the distributor shall take from the
local manager a receipt therefor signed in duplicate by both the
distributor and the manager, one of which receipts the
distributor shall deliver to the circuit clerk and the other shall be
retained by the local manager and said last mentioned duplicate
receipt shall be enclosed in the ballot box with the voted ballots
when the polls have been closed and the votes have been
counted. . . .
Mississippi Code 23-15-335 (Emphasis added.)
The receipt booklet, mentioned in Section 23-15-541, shall not
be taken out of the polling place at any time until finally
inclosed in the ballot box, except in case of any adjournment,
when the receipt booklet shall be locked in the ballot box.
Mississippi Code 23-15-543 (Emphasis added.)
When the votes have been completely and correctly counted
and tallied by the managers they shall publicly proclaim the
result of the election at their box and shall certify in duplicate a
statement of the said result, said certificate to be signed by the
managers and clerks, one (1) of the certificates to be enclosed in
the ballot box, and the other to be delivered to and to be kept by
one (1) of the managers and to be inspected at any time by any
voter who so requests. When the count of the votes and the
tally thereof have been completed, the managers shall lock and
seal the ballot box, having first placed therein all ballots voted,
all spoiled ballots and all unused ballots. There shall be
inclosed therein also one (1) of the duplicate receipts given by
the manager who received the blank ballots received for that
box; and the total ballots voted, and the spoiled ballots and the
unused ballots must correspond in total with the said duplicate
receipt or else the failure thereof must be perfectly accounted
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for by a written statement, under oath of the managers, which
statement must be enclosed in the ballot box. There shall be
also inclosed in said box the tally list, the receipt booklet
containing the signed names of the voters who voted; and the
number of ballots voted must correspond with the number of
names signed in said receipt booklet.
Mississippi Code 23-15-591 (Emphasis added.)
. . . If voting machines are used, all absentee ballots shall be
placed in the ballot box before any ballots are counted, and the
election managers in each precinct shall immediately count
such absentee ballots and add them to the votes cast in the
voting machine or device.
Mississippi Code 23-15-639(1)(c)(Emphasis added.)
Within this system of secure collection and preservation of election-results
documentation, the Election Code logically provides candidates the right to a full examination
of the documentation. Mississippi Code 23-15-911. The clear intent of the statute is to
provide candidates the right to review all original documentation used by election officials to
conduct an election, as necessary for a candidate to prove the accuracy and validity (or
inaccuracy and invalidity) of an election. In the exercise of this right, candidates play an
essential statutory role in assuring the integrity of Mississippi elections.
Thus, in the context of the June 24, 2014 Republican primary runoff elections,
Petitioner's full examination under 23-15-911 must include examination of the actual ballot
boxes and seals ( 23-15-335 and 23-15-543), contents or election documentation from the
June 24 runoff election such as poll books, signature books, receipt or chain of custody
documents for boxes, vote count runs and certificates, unused ballots, spoiled ballots, vote
tally list, absentee voting applications and ballot envelopes, affidavit ballot envelopes, (
23-15-535, 23-15-543 23-15-591), as well as poll books and signature pages, or election
documentation that proves the identity of electors who voted in the June 3, 2014 Democratic
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primary. The examination of this limited documentation from the June 3, 2014 Democratic
primary is necessary to demonstrate illegality of persons who voted in both the June 3
Democratic primary and the June 24 Republican primary in violation of Mississippi Code
23-15-575.
II. What other state and/or federal laws, if any, may impact the disclosure of
voters' personal information?
The answer to this question requires an important semantic distinction. The viewing
of voters' personal information by statutorily authorized participants in the administration of
elections is not a "disclosure" as that term is used in public record acts. As it is not a
"disclosure" for a circuit clerk to view voters' personal information, so also it is not a
"disclosure" for poll workers, executive committee members, and candidates to view voters'
personal information where such viewing is authorized by statute. Each participant in the
statutory process bears similar responsibility to properly treat and/or safeguard voters'
personal information.
With this distinction in perspective, a useful comparison may be made with the
National Voter Registration Act ("NVRA"), 42 U.S.C. 1973gg. Section 8(i)(1) of the
NVRA requires public disclosure of "all records concerning the implementation of programs
and activities conducted for the purpose of ensuring the accuracy and currency of official lists
of eligible voters." 42 U.S.C. 1973gg-(6)(i)(1).
In 2012, a Virginia state official opposed releasing completed voter applications in
response to a public disclosure request under the NVRA, arguing that such public disclosure
would release private voter information such as criminal history, home addresses, telephone
numbers, and birth dates. In response, the federal district ordered disclosure, and on appeal
the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed, stating that the balance of danger to voters of
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disclosure must be balanced against the benefit to voters gained by such public disclosure,
and:
It is self-evident that disclosure will assist the identification of
both error and fraud in the preparation and maintenance of
voter rolls. State officials labor under a duty of accountability
to the public in ensuring that voter lists include eligible voters
and exclude ineligible ones in the most accurate manner
possible. Without such transparency, public confidence in the
essential workings of democracy will suffer.
Project Vote/Voting for America, Inc. v. Long, 682 F.2d 331, 339 (4th Cir. 2012). The Court
of Appeals went on to conclude that the balance had been struck by Congress in favor of
public disclosure for the protection of the election process.
The usefulness of the comparison is this. The same information Circuit Clerk Parker
is arguing compels her to refuse a candidate full access to election documents is required to be
publicly disclose under the NVRA. If a public disclosure of voter information is important to
the transparency of and public confidence in elections, so much more important is a
candidate's examination of that information in an election contest. While notably not a
public disclosure, Mississippi's election law has long recognized the benefit a candidates's
full examination of election records adds to the transparency of the election process.
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itche H. Tyner, S
Petitioner is aware of no other state or federal law that impacts upon a circuit clerk's
//,
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED this i' Tay of July, 2014.
CHRIS McDANIEL
Of counsel:
Mitchell H. Tyner, Sr. (MSB #8169)
Tyner Law Firm P.A.
5750 1-55 North
Jackson, Mississippi 39211
(601) 957-1113
Email: mtyner@tynerlawfirm.com
Steve C. Thornton (MSB #9216)
P. 0. Box 16465
Jackson, Mississippi 39236
(601) 982-0313
Email: mail@lawlives.com
Michael D. Watson, Jr. (MSB # 101220)
Watson Legal, PLLC
Post Office Box 964
Pascagoula, Mississippi 39568
Email: michael@watsonlegal.ms
Attorneys for Plaintiff Chris McDaniel
compliance with Mississippi Code 23-15-911.
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ANL
-"rirchell H. Tyner,
CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
I, Mitchell H. Tyner, Sr., attorney for the petitioner Chris McDaniel, certify that I have
this day served a true and correct copy of the above and foregoing PETITIONER'S
SUPPLEMENT TO EMERGENCY PETITION FOR WRIT OF MANDAMUS upon the
following persons:
Judge Roger T. Clark
Circuit Court of Harrison County
P. 0. Box 1461
Gulfport, MS 39502
(228) 865-4165
Email: mhladner@co.harrison.ms.us
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
Timothy C. Holleman
Boyce Holleman & Associates
1720 23rd Ave/Boyce Holleman Blvd.
Gulfport, MS 39501
(228) 863-3142
Email: tim@boyceholleman.com
VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL
Attorney General James M. Hood, III
450 High Street
Jackson, MS 39201
(601) 359-3680
(601) 359-3441 fax
VIA FACSIMILE
CERTIFIED this day of July, 2014.
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