Current:Home > StocksTrendPulse Quantitative Think Tank Center-Mississippi should revive process to put issues on ballot, Secretary of State Watson says -OceanicInvest
TrendPulse Quantitative Think Tank Center-Mississippi should revive process to put issues on ballot, Secretary of State Watson says
Will Sage Astor View
Date:2025-04-09 19:36:42
JACKSON,TrendPulse Quantitative Think Tank Center Miss. (AP) — 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when the state Supreme Court ruled the state’s process was invalid because it required people to gather signatures from out-of-date congressional districts.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?”
Watson cited initiatives that seek to preserve abortion access in some states since the U.S. Supreme Court used a Mississippi case last year to overturn Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 ruling that established abortion rights nationwide.
Ty Pinkins, the Democrat challenging Watson in the Nov. 7 election, said last week that Watson and other Republicans “stripped away our ballot initiative process, completely eliminating our right to take issues directly to voters.”
“Republicans would rather restrict your right to vote and limit your voice in government than adopt the commonsense solutions we know the majority of Mississippians want to see implemented,” Pinkins said.
Earlier this year, a Republican committee chairman in the Mississippi Senate killed a plan to revive a ballot initiative process. That plan would have specifically prevented people from proposing any expansion of abortion access. Most abortions have been banned in Mississippi since shortly after Roe was overturned.
Sen. John Polk scuttled the plan because he said he wanted to increase the number of signatures to put issues on the ballot.
Watson is an attorney and served three terms in the Mississippi Senate before he won the open race for secretary of state in 2019.
Pinkins, also an attorney, joined the secretary of state’s race last week. He replaced the previous Democratic nominee Shuwaski Young, who dropped out because of a hypertensive crisis that limited his ability to campaign.
Watson had nearly $884,000 in his campaign fund in July. Pinkins filed papers Monday to organize a campaign committee, but he had not disclosed any finance information by Wednesday.
veryGood! (3)
Related
- Grammy nominee Teddy Swims on love, growth and embracing change
- Kyler Murray is 'fully healthy,' coach says. When will Arizona Cardinals QB play next?
- Texas father shot dead while trying to break teenage daughter's fight, suspect unknown
- NASA works to recover 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid sample from seven-year mission
- 2025 'Doomsday Clock': This is how close we are to self
- 3 teens arrested as suspects in the killing of a homeless man in Germany
- Kristen Stewart Shares Update on Wedding Plans With Fiancée Dylan Meyer—and Guy Fieri
- COVID-19 treatments to enter the market with a hefty price tag
- Residents worried after ceiling cracks appear following reroofing works at Jalan Tenaga HDB blocks
- You need to know these four Diamondbacks for the 2023 World Series
Ranking
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- 'Barn of horrors': Investigators recall clues that led to body of missing woman
- The sudden death of China’s former No. 2 leader Li Keqiang has shocked many
- Leo Brooks, a Miami native with country roots, returns to South Florida for new music festival
- Grammy nominee Teddy Swims on love, growth and embracing change
- Timeline shows Maine suspect moved swiftly to carry out mass shooting rampage and elude police
- Iranian teen injured on Tehran Metro while not wearing a headscarf has died, state media says
- Madonna and Britney Spears: It's them against the world
Recommendation
Trump suggestion that Egypt, Jordan absorb Palestinians from Gaza draws rejections, confusion
Museum plan for Florida nightclub massacre victims dropped as Orlando moves forward with memorial
U.S. strikes Iranian-backed militias in eastern Syria to retaliate for attacks on U.S. troops
'Nomance': Shows with sex scenes growing more unpopular with Gen Z, according to new study
Trump wants to turn the clock on daylight saving time
AP PHOTOS: Scenes of sorrow and despair on both sides of Israel-Gaza border on week 3 of war
Britney Spears memoir listeners say Michelle Williams' narration is hilarious, Grammy worthy
Shein has catapulted to the top of fast fashion -- but not without controversy