The election has come and gone. Seemingly everything was on the line: the control of Congress, the White House, state legislatures across the country, local school-board seats, bond measures to fund new roads and schools. The dust has settled, and we’ve learned a lot about the current state of America through the votes that citizens submitted on Tuesday.
Besides the positions of leadership that were up for grabs, I anxiously awaited another set of results: the hundreds of ballot initiatives appearing before voters across the United States, except here in Mississippi.
Mississippi leaders revoked our right to add initiatives to our state ballot after the 2020 election. They don’t trust us enough to restore that right. You see, we got a little too radical for their liking.
In 2011, Mississippi voters easily rejected Initiative 26, the fetal heartbeat ballot initiative. In 2015, voters came within a few percentage points (and only a little over 10,000 raw votes) of passing Initiative 42, a constitutional amendment to guarantee adequate funding of the state’s public schools. Then, of course, came Initiative 65 in 2020, where an overwhelming majority of Mississippians approved of the legalization of medical marijuana.
Naturally, the Mississippi Supreme Court, in their infinite (and theological) wisdom, decided we had just been doing it all wrong. We were using old congressional lines. The language wasn’t clear. We were infringing on the rights of the legislature. They said several things (as they like to do), but ultimately their decision stripped Mississippians of our right to amend our constitution through a citizen-led ballot initiative—a right that we still, three-plus years later, have not regained.
Yes there have been some legislative attempts to restore the ballot initiative process, and politicians in both parties have voiced support for that. Nevertheless, multiple legislative sessions have now passed since the Court ruled the initiative process illegal, so what are we waiting on? Why has our legislative leadership not made it a priority? Why hasn’t the governor called a special session to return this right?
Looking at some of the ballot initiatives that appeared before voters in this election is quite illuminating and provides the most likely answer. Ten states have ballot initiatives to codify or restore abortion rights. In multiple states, people will be voting to raise the minimum wage and guarantee paid sick leave for workers. And voters in Florida, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota (not exactly liberal strongholds) all had a chance to legalize recreational marijuana.
That sounds like some pretty progressive stuff—issues the leaders in the Mississippi Legislature have no interest in addressing, but also simply don’t trust Mississippi voters to decide. They’re not confident that a majority of Mississippi voters would reject medical marijuana. They can’t be certain that more than 50% of Mississippi voters aren’t ready to raise the minimum wage above the current (and ridiculous) $7.25.
What if a majority of Mississippians voted to restore the protections guaranteed to women before the repeal of Roe v. Wade? What if that Anti-26 coalition from 2011 shows back up? Their view and political strategy seems to be, “Why risk it when we can control everything ourselves?”
Don’t take my word for it. Earlier this year, the Mississippi House introduced a bill to restore the ballot-initiative process but with just one catch: an initiative to get rid of the state’s abortion ban would be off limits.
And, of course, there were signs that Mississippi’s GOP leaders were getting tired of dealing with progressive ballot initiatives even before their friends on the court got rid of them completely. With both Initiative 42 and Initiative 65, legislative leaders made their opposition to the proposals widely known and even passed alternative versions of both initiatives—something proponents of both initiatives said at the time was designed to confuse voters and to make it more difficult for them to pass.
So, as we reflect on the results from this week’s election and the fact that tens of millions of Americans had the opportunity to create change in their states through ballot initiatives, some shaping the most important policy battles of our time, remember what our leaders are saying to Mississippi voters by not restoring our right to ballot initiatives: “Know your place and stay in line; we know what’s best for you.”
Is that freedom? Is that democracy? If citizens bring ballot initiatives and get enough signatures to have them placed on the ballot, shouldn’t the opposition to those initiatives simply make their case to voters and beat the proposition at the ballot box? When the voter ID ballot initiative was on the ballot, why didn’t the Legislature provide an alternative?
These are questions that I suggest we all start asking, and soon.
Blake Case lives in Jackson and has worked on progressive advocacy campaigns in Mississippi and around the country.
This MFP Voices essay does not necessarily represent the views of the Mississippi Free Press, its staff or board members. To submit an opinion for the MFP Voices section, send up to 1,200 words and sources fact-checking the included information to voices@mississippifreepress.org. We welcome a wide variety of viewpoints.
