Mississippi’s Secretary of State, Delbert Hosemann, will try to get an initiative on the 2010 ballot to require voters at the polls to show photo-ID. Mississippi has had the initiative process since 1983, but in all those years, only one statewide initiative has ever qualified. Complicating the drive is the fact that the Mississippi Constitution requires an initiative to get a high percentage of the electorate in each of the “five” U.S. House districts. When the Constitutional provision for initiatives was written, Mississippi had 5 U.S. House districts, but now Mississippi only has 4. Hosemann’s initiative drive will gather signatures from each of the five districts that existed in the 1990’s, as though they still existed today.
Ballot Access News
Edited By Richard Winger
More unusual news from “our old friend Mississippi.”
Actually, Mississippi has had its current initiative process since 1993, and TWO initiatives have qualified for the ballot. Both involved term limits, and both lost.
Initiative 27 has been proposed for photo voter ID. It’s my understanding that state Sen. Joey Fillingane is sponsoring this measure, and that he has filed a lawsuit regarding the “5” congressional districts.
I’m curious as to where you got this information, as The Clarion-Ledger’s website has nothing about it. This is the first I’ve heard of the secretary of state sponsoring an initiative for photo voter ID.