Blank space on ballots; remove and provide supplementary ballot if a candidate is removed from race after ballots are printed.

HB 321 removes the blank space for write-in candidates on Mississippi ballots and requires election officials to print and distribute a supplementary ballot if a candidate dies, resigns, withdraws, or is removed from a race after ballots are printed but before an election. The supplementary ballot will list the new candidate and other candidates in that specific race, formatted identically to regular ballots and distributed through standard voting channels. Absentee voters who cast ballots before the supplementary ballot was printed will be notified and offered the option to return to their circuit clerk's office to vote the supplementary ballot or have it mailed to them (if eligible for absentee mail voting). This change directly affects voters and election officials in races where candidate changes occur post-printing.