Thread by @jallen1985

THREAD: The #MSleg should go further than enacting medical marijuana and putting a constitutional amendment to the voters to fix our 5-district ballot initiative framework.

It should also put all of the issues for which initiatives were filed or announced on the 2022 ballot. 1/

☑️ Recreational marijuana
☑️ Medicaid expansion
☑️ Early voting

The #MSleg should put questions on the 2022 ballot to determine whether MS voters support or oppose legalizing recreational marijuana, expanding Medicaid, and allowing early voting. 2/

These three ballot measures not have to be constitutional amendments—they can simply be non-binding referendums, the same way the #MSleg asked voters whether we approved the flag design adopted by the 2020 flag commission. 3/

As with the flag vote, the #MSleg should commit to ratify whatever decision the voters make on issues put to the voters in November 2022 when they return for the 2023 legislative session. 4/

☑️ Initiative 74

Supporters of Mississippi's old flag have been collecting signatures for an initiative that would, if adopted by the voters, require Mississippi to hold another vote on the state flag at the next election. 5/

The #MSeg should put this question to the voters also.

Much as I oppose Initiative 74, my view is that the MS Supreme Court stripped @danjackie2014 of his right to pursue it the same way the court stripped @timmooremha of his right to pursue Medicaid expansion via initiative. 6/

My view is that the #MSleg should remedy the court's decision by putting initiatives that were underway or announced at the time of the MS Supreme Court's decision without reference to the content of the initiative. 7/

So, the #MSleg should put a question on the 2022 ballot asking voters whether they want to vote on the flag again in Mississippi's 2023 statewide elections, as that is what Initiative 74 would have done. 8/

I believe the voters would defeat that idea by saying in November 2022 that there should not be another vote on the state flag—and I would much prefer to defeat Initiative 74 that way than by overlooking an infringement on voters' rights to pursue initiatives. 9/

☑️ Term limits

The #MSleg should put a question to the voters whether to adopt term limits and for which offices we want to have term limits. 10/

However, the Legislature should modify the term limits initiative to exclude Congressional offices, because SCOTUS has held that the federal constitution prohibits term limits for Congress. 11/

☑️ Felon voting rights restoration

The #MSleg should put a question to voters asking if felons' voting rights should be restored, and if so, when—upon release from prison, release from parole or probation, completion of fines/restitution, etc. 12/

In addition to putting that question to voters, the #MSleg should propose a constitutional amendment repealing the disenfranchisement provisions and limits on voting rights restoration that are already in the state constitution. 13/

Proposing those constitutional amendments is necessary so that the #MSleg would have the legislative power in 2023 to implement the results of a 2022 referendum on voting rights restoration—whatever the outcome of that referendum is. 14/