The mayor of the City of Madison is challenging Initiative 65, claiming signature collections for the ballot referendum are unconstitutional. The Mississippi constitution requires an equal number of signatures from five congressional districts. The state lost a seat after the 2000 Census, but the constitution hasn’t been updated to four districts to change the process. Ken Newburger is with the Mississippi Medical Marijuana Association.
“I think that every signature that was gathered for Initiative 65 was done properly. The Secretary of State correctly put the initiative on the ballot and we all voted to approve it,” said Newburger.
In 2019, the secretary of state said Initiative 65 qualified for the ballot because the sponsors had enough signatures from the old five congressional districts, actually twice as many; 228,000. Now the state supreme court is being asked to render a decision on the constitutionality of the ballot signature process.
“The bottom line is that we had an election last year where 74 percent of Mississippians voted for Initiative 65 and one politician asking to overturn an election is unfair to all those people who voted,” said Newburger.
If Initiative 65 is struck down it could potentially invalidate other constitutional amendments like the state’s voter id law.
