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 1 E-Filed Document Jul 16 2014 11:13:19 2014-M-00967 Pages: 7 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 2 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 3 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 4 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. 5 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. 6 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. 7