Mississippi’s Republican-led state legislature adjourned Saturday without voting to restore even a small part of the ballot initiative process that the conservative-dominated state Supreme Court obliterated in 2021.
Both state House and Senate leaders argued who was to blame for the inaction, which came despite a Siena College statewide poll showing that 72% of respondents wanted them to once again grant “voters the power to place issues directly on the ballot,” though one powerful legislator was happy to take credit. State Sen. John Polk, who refused to let the proposal receive a vote when it reached the committee he chaired, argued, “When it came to my decision, I decided that Mississippi right now was best without the ballot initiative.”