Ballot Initiative Revival Efforts Fall to New Chairman
Efforts for Mississippi to revive the ballot initiative system in Mississippi will now fall to Sen. David Parker, a new Senate committee chairman.
Efforts for Mississippi to revive the ballot initiative system in Mississippi will now fall to Sen. David Parker, a new Senate committee chairman.
Hopes for restoring a ballot initiative system in Mississippi are alive again as the Mississippi Senate reopened the possibility one week after a Senate leader killed the legislation last week amid differences with the Mississippi House.
Mississippi citizens will not be able to organize and vote on issues using ballot initiatives again any time soon after a Mississippi Senate leader allowed legislation that would have revived the option to die on calendar due to multiple concerns.
Mississippi Secretary of State Michael Watson celebrated the passage of new voting restrictions on March 14, 2023, saying that banning “ballot harvesting” is necessary “to make it easier to vote and harder to cheat” in Mississippi elections.
Mississippi could ban digital books that state law defines as “sexually oriented,” including books with depictions of “homosexuality” and “lesbianism,” from public and school libraries after a majority in the Mississippi House approved an amended version of Senate Bill No. 2346 on Wednesday.
The state-run Capitol Police would have jurisdiction over the entire capital city and would be required to wear body cameras under an amended version of Mississippi House Bill 1020 that the Mississippi Senate passed on March 7, 2023.
A large majority of Mississippi voters are familiar with the state’s welfare fraud scandal, and a slim majority is leaning toward voting for Democrat Brandon Presley for governor over incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves in the November 2023 election, a new poll says.
Mississippi Free Press’ attorney Rob McDuff said in a May 2022 statement that the Mississippi Open Meetings Act requires that other meetings of legislators, like the Republican Caucus, be open to the public when they constitute a quorum and are discussing public business.”
Mississippi State Senator Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, is sponsoring Senate Bill 2082, which would suspend child-support payments for those in prison for more than six months.
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