Mississippi Code

Miss. Code Ann. § 23-15-871 (2026)

General prohibitions with respect to employers, employees, and public officials

✓ current as of July 2026

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(1) No corporation or any officer or employee thereof, or any member of a firm, or trustee or any member of any association, or any other employer, may direct or coerce, directly or indirectly, any employee to vote or not to vote for any particular person or group of persons in any election, or to discharge or to threaten to discharge any such employee, or to increase or decrease the salary or wages of an employee, or otherwise promote or demote the employee, because of his or her vote or failure to vote for any particular candidate or group of candidates.

(2) No employer, or employee having the authority to employ or discharge other employees, may make any statement public or private, or give out or circulate any report or statement, calculated to intimidate or coerce or otherwise influence any vote of an employee, and when any such statement has been circulated, it shall be the duty of the employer to publicly repudiate it or the employer shall be deemed by way of ratification to have made it himself or herself.

(3) No employee may be requested, directed or permitted to canvass for or against any candidate or render any other services for or against any candidate or group of candidates, during any of the hours within which the salary of the employee as an employee is being paid or agreed to be paid. No employee may be allowed any vacation or leave of absence at the expense of the employer to render any service or services for or against any candidate or group of candidates, or to take any active part in any election campaign whatsoever, except the necessary time to cast his or her vote.

(4) The prohibitions of this section shall apply to all state, state district, county and county district officers, and to any board or commission and the members thereof by whatever name designated and whether elective or appointive, and to each one of those employed by them or any of them.

(5) No state, state district, county or county district officer, or any employee who directly or indirectly has the control, or who asserts that he or she has such power, over the expenditure of any public funds in this state shall state, suggest or intimate, publicly or privately, or in any manner or form, that any such expenditure shall depend upon or be influenced by the vote of any person, group of persons, or community or group of communities, whether for or against any candidate or group of candidates at any election.

(6) This section and every part of it shall apply also to all federal officers, agents, employees, boards and commissions as to any interference contrary to the provisions of this chapter, in the elections of this state.

(7) Any violation of this section shall be a violation of Section 97-13-37 and shall be referred to a district attorney for prosecution.

Derived from 1972 Code § 23-3-29 [Codes, 1942, § 3172; Laws, 1935, ch. 19; repealed by Laws, 1986, ch. 495, § 333]; Laws, 1986, ch. 495, § 263, eff. 1/1/1987.

Amended by Laws, 2017, ch. 441, HB 467, 180, eff. 7/1/2017.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 3 cases, 2000–2002 · leading case: Beattie v. Madison Cnty. Sch. Dist., 254 F.3d 595 (5th Cir. 2001).

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Beattie v. Madison Cnty. Sch. Dist., 254 F.3d 595 (5th Cir. 2001). “§ 1983 and for violation of Miss. Code Ann. § 23-15-871 , which prohibits certain actions by employers regarding employee’s voting rights.”

Straughter v. Collins, 819 So. 2d 1244 (Miss. 2002). · cites it 2× “First, Peter Gower and Robert Lee, both current county employees, took off work on election day to campaign for Collins in his reelection bid in contravention of Miss.Code Ann. §§ 23-15-871 (2001). Second, voters who were not blind, disabled or illiterate were given voting…”

McArthur Straughter v. Cobie Collins (Miss. 2000). · cites it 2× “First, Peter Gower and Robert Lee, both current county employees, took off work on election day to campaign for Collins in his re-election bid in contravention of Miss. Code Ann. § 23-15-871 (2001). Second, voters who were not blind, disabled or illiterate were given voting…”

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