Mississippi should revive a process that lets voters put initiatives on the statewide ballot, Secretary of State Michael Watson said Wednesday, although he hasn’t yet settled on the exact number of signatures people would need to gather.
Mississippi has been without initiatives since May 2021, when the state Supreme Court ruled the state’s process was invalid because it required people to gather signatures from out-of-date congressional districts.
Watson, a Republican seeking a second term, told The Associated Press in an interview that he thinks the signature threshold “should be a little bit higher” than the previous 106,200 — partly to dim the influence of outside groups.
“Is it a groundswell of support for an issue from Mississippians?” Watson said. “Or is it support for an issue from out-of-state entities that want to come in and push some idea that maybe not be pushed by Mississippians?”
Source : AP News