Bill requiring special voting machines vetoed

By Emily Wagster Pettus
The Associated Press   17 March 2005

Legislators won't try to override Gov. Haley Barbour's veto of an elections bill that dealt with handicapped-accessible precincts.

Barbour said he struck down the bill because he believes it conflicts with federal law and "would contribute to voter confusion."

The bill would have required one precinct in each county supervisor's district to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act.

That would have been 410 precincts around the state ? one in each of the five supervisor's districts in each of the 82 counties.

However, a federal law requires every precinct across the state to have at least one handicapped-accessible voting machine by Jan. 1, 2006.

The state has about 2,100 precincts, and some already are set up to accommodate disabled voters.

House Elections Committee Chairman Tommy Reynolds, D-Water Valley, said the federal requirement will help disabled voters, but Congress didn't send money to help local governments buy voting machines or make other changes at precincts.

"If Washington mandates something, I would like them to send the money to comply with it or give us some way to comply," Reynolds said Tuesday.

In his veto message, Barbour wrote that House Bill 318 attempted to give local governments more time to comply with the federal law.

"While I appreciate the spirit of the Legislature's effort to assist local governments, the state of Mississippi simply does not have the authority to change that deadline," Barbour wrote.

Barbour on Monday also vetoed Senate Bill 2754, which would let the state Tax Commission chairman revoke or refuse to issue a business permit to anyone who has unpaid state tax liabilities.

It wasn't immediately clear whether lawmakers would attempt to override the veto of the tax bill. Doing so would take a two-thirds vote of each chamber.

In vetoing the tax bill, Barbour wrote he was concerned about the term "tax liability" being used but not defined.