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7 Apr, 5 tweets, 3 min read
Mississippi voters may amend the state constitution to expand Medicaid after years of inaction by #MSLeg.

Since 2014, state leaders have rejected $8 billion+ that could've expanded Medicaid to 200k-300k people & saved several now-closed rural hospitals. mississippifreepress.org/11024/a-genera…
Even amid #COVID19, Gov. @TateReeves continues to say he will not "expand Obamacare" (as he misleadingly refers to Medicaid expansion) and House Speaker Philip Gunn says he's "not interested."

But Mississippians could bypass them with a ballot initiative.
mississippifreepress.org/11024/a-genera…
A January 2020 Millsaps/Chism survey found that 60% of Mississippians support expanding Medicaid (29% against). State leaders have ignored that.

Read @NickJudin's report on the effort to bring Medicaid expansion to Mississippi with a ballot initiative. mississippifreepress.org/11024/a-genera…
A group of Mississippians is also planning to gather petitions for an initiative to bring early voting to the state for the first time (we only have minimal absentee options).

A new Millsaps survey finds 55% favor early voting (down from 70% in 2019). mississippifreepress.org/10802/voting-s…
Please help us keep producing and grow our efforts to bring important journalism focused on people and issues to Mississippi.

Follow us at @MSFreePress and please consider a donation to our non-profit newsroom (one-time or recurring) at the link. mfp.ms/donate

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More from @ashtonpittman

Ashton Pittman Profile picture
8 Apr
@echndc The biggest issue for MS generally when it comes to politics isn't primarily who is in office. The biggest problem is the people don't have enough power.

5x as many are disenfranchised due to Jim Crow-era felony voters laws as made the difference in the 2019 governor's race.
@echndc And the majority of those disenfranchised for that one reason (not even including all the others) are mostly Black.

Folks need to invest in the people of this state to empower more to choose leaders & ensure that leaders know the people have power & to take the people seriously.
@echndc Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith won the 2018 U.S. Senate election in Mississippi by about 66,000 votes.

There are about 230,000 Mississippians, including 130,000 Black Mississippians, who can't vote bc of past felony convictions due to our Jim Crow-era felony disenfranchisement law.
Read 6 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
8 Apr
I just went to @KFC and placed an order.

Her: Ok sir, with that order, we don't have chicken right now.

Me: You don't have chicken?

Her: No sir.

Me: I'm at Kentucky Fried Chicken?

Her: Yes sir.

Me: And you have no chicken. At all. Of any kind?

Her: No sir.

Me: 🥴🥴🥴
I wasn't trying to make her job difficult, btw. I was just...perplexed and thought I must be misunderstanding something. 😂
Oh my God, I just pulled up at Popeyes and 🥴🥴🥴
Read 7 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
7 Apr
THREAD: Mississippi's elections chief is warning that "woke" & "uninformed" college students could become registered voters if President Biden gets his way.

"You’ve got an uninformed citizen who may not be prepared and ready to vote," he says. 1/ mississippifreepress.org/11009/mississi…
Watson: “Think about all those woke college and university students... You’ve got an uninformed citizen who may not be prepared and ready to vote...Automatically it's forced on them: Hey, go make a choice. Our country’s going to pay for those choices.” 2/ mississippifreepress.org/11009/mississi…
Former Mississippi Gov. Ray Mabus compared Watson's remarks to the Jim Crow era.

“His talking points are from (the) 1950s. Slightly updated. Literacy tests anyone?” wrote Mabus (@SECNAV75), who served as Secretary of the Navy under President Obama. 3/ mississippifreepress.org/11009/mississi…
Read 12 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
5 Apr
FACT CHECK: @SenatorWicker didn't tell the Big Lie leading up to 1/6.

He was the only MS Republican who voted to certify the results, saying that "despite widespread allegations of fraud, there simply was not enough evidence to change the outcome of the election in any state."
Wicker said in a statement that he was “disappointed in the outcome of the 2020 election,” but that it was “time to acknowledge” that “our campaign lost a close election.”

BUT he said "we can take steps to restore faith in America’s electoral system.” mississippifreepress.org/8008/sen-cindy…
While @SenatorWicker didn't tell the "Big Lie" and @MattNegrin's tweet is flat-out false, he is now defending Georgia's voter suppression law and claiming it "expands" voting rights (referring to provisions designed to boost white rural GOP turnout). mississippifreepress.org/10850/sen-wick…
Read 5 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
1 Apr
When folks say Georgia's voting restrictions law "expands" early voting, they're talking it requiring counties to allow Saturday voting & hold 8 hours of early voting.

Large majority Black counties already do this.

So who benefits? 1/6
A lot of rural white counties in Georgia don't offer Saturday voting or Sunday voting and, in some cases, only do half days of early voting.

This law requires GOP-leaning white to hold early voting on Saturdays & for at least 8 hours (9-5). 2/6
So this "expansion" isn't for areas with majority Black voters or Democratic-leaning voters. It's to force majority white counties to make sure Black voters don't have an advantage.

3/6
Read 6 tweets
Ashton Pittman Profile picture
1 Apr
NEW: U.S. Sen. Roger Wicker is claiming that Georgia's new voter restrictions law "actually expands voting opportunities."

The Mississippi Republican is referring to a part of the law that mainly benefits rural white voters in GOP strongholds. 1/
mississippifreepress.org/10850/sen-wick…
Sen. Roger Wicker: “(Delta) Airlines CEO caves to the left with a false narrative about the new Georgia voting law, which actually expands voting opportunities. He should be ashamed of himself.”

But does it really? (Read on). 2/
mississippifreepress.org/10850/sen-wick…
Georgia's new law restricts voting in a number of ways, particularly ones most likely to impact Black voters.

But it actually requires rural polling places, typically in majority white, GOP-leaning parts of the state, to offer more early voting. 3/ mississippifreepress.org/10850/sen-wick…
Read 15 tweets

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