The Picayune Item

State News

May 2, 2009

2 Miss. lawmakers move voter ID debate to court

JACKSON — A Democratic state lawmaker is asking a judge to dismiss a Republican colleague’s lawsuit that seeks to clarify the process Mississippi citizens can use to put a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot.

The outcome could affect the effort by Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, to gather signatures for a voter-identification issue he wants to put on statewide ballots. Fillingane said Thursday he already has at least 1,000 signatures of the 90,000 needed. He’s proposing a state constitutional amendment that would require people to show a driver’s license or other ID before casting a ballot.

Fillingane said he doesn’t want to waste time gathering too many signatures in one part of the state and not enough in another.

“Now, in my opinion, is the precise time we need some direction,” he said Thursday.

Fillingane is asking a Hinds County chancery judge to clarify whether the signatures should come from Mississippi’s five former U.S. House districts or the four current ones.

Rep. Credell Calhoun, D-Jackson, filed papers this week seeking to block Fillingane’s request for a court ruling. A hearing for both lawmakers’ requests is set for May 11.

Since 1992, the Mississippi Constitution has said that no more than one-fifth of the signatures must come from each congressional district. The one-fifth requirement was written when Mississippi had five U.S. House seats. The state dropped to four seats in 2002, but the initiative requirements have not been updated.

At the request of Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, the state attorney general’s office issued a legal opinion in January saying signatures should come from the five former districts. Fillingane said he wanted clarity from the court because the attorney general’s opinion is nonbinding.

Calhoun said Thursday that Fillingane had a chance to pass a voter ID bill this year, but Fillingane and three Republican colleagues helped kill it in the Senate Elections Committee because they objected to early voting provisions. The surprise move angered many Republicans.

Calhoun said Mississippi’s current initiative process dilutes the principle of one person, one vote.

“Everybody knows the process, as currently drafted, will not meet constitutional standards and any vote on initiatives will be successfully challenged and defeated in court,” Calhoun said in a news release. “It is a waste of time gathering signatures and a waste of taxpayers’ money for the process of verifying tens of thousands of signatures.”

Calhoun said laws that govern voting procedures, including requiring ID, should be changed only by the Legislature.

Fillingane said Thursday that he “respectfully, completely” disagrees with Calhoun’s arguments.

Republicans and some conservative Democrats have been pushing voter ID bills in the Legislature for more than a decade, but those bills have all died.

Supporters say it’s needed to head off voter fraud. Opponents say there’s little proof that people have tried to vote under others’ names. They also say an ID requirement could diminish turnout among older black voters who were subject to poll taxes and literacy tests decades ago.

Even as the bill was being killed, Fillingane was already working on plans for the statewide petition drive to try to get voter ID on the ballot and into the state Constitution. Fillingane has a February 2010 deadline to gather signatures for his initiative.

Some Democrats have accused Fillingane of trying to put a voter ID amendment on the ballot to increase conservative turnout in either the 2010 congressional elections or the 2011 election for governor and other statewide offices.

Text Only
State News
  • MHP on patrol for holiday

    Even though there has been a remarkable reduction in the number of fatalities in Mississippi over the past seven years, last year’s Memorial Day Weekend was particularly deadly.

    May 26, 2012

  • Forecasters: 9 to 15 storms this hurricane season

    U.S. forecasters predicted Thursday that this year’s Atlantic hurricane season would produce a normal number of about nine to 15 tropical storms.
    As many as four to eight of those storms could strengthen into hurricanes, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s initial outlook for the six-month storm season that officially begins June 1. One to three of those could become major hurricanes with top winds of 111 mph or higher.

    May 25, 2012

  • Miss. court sets execution dates for 2 of 3 men

    Mississippi will not execute three men on three consecutive days in June, after the state Supreme Court set execution dates a week apart for two men and declined to set a date for a third.

    May 25, 2012

  • LEGISLATIVE REVIEW New, old law makers tout legislative successes

    Four state law makers held a legislative review for members of the Greater Picayune Area Chamber of Commerce at the newly opened Southern Char restaurant Tuesday night to share with business owners information about new bills and laws that have been passed.

    May 24, 2012 1 Photo

  • Prosecutors: Delay sentencing in hate crime case

    Federal prosecutors want to delay the sentencing of three white men who pleaded guilty to hate crime charges stemming from a months-long pattern of harassing blacks that culminated in the fatal rundown of James Craig Anderson.

    May 24, 2012

  • Bryant signs laws affecting students and veterans

    Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant signed a bill Wednesday that requires kindergarteners or first-graders to be tested for dyslexia, a reading disorder that can sometimes go undiagnosed for years and leave children struggling to learn.

    May 24, 2012

  • Losing bidder sues over revised bid at state port

    A contract dispute has put on hold elevation work at the state port in Gulfport.
    The port’s West Pier is being expanded, elevated and updated to house a modern containerized cargo operation. When completed, the pier will include 180 acres elevated for storm-surge protection by 15 feet, to 25 feet above sea level.

    May 23, 2012

  • Mom of man in sisters abduction gets new charge

    Prosecutors have increased the severity of charges against the mother of a man who abducted two young Tennessee girls after he killed their mother and oldest sister.

    May 23, 2012

  • Sheriff: Gang started prison riot in Mississippi

    A gang fight in a prison for illegal immigrants quickly escalated into a riot involving as many as 300 inmates, some lashing out with sticks or homemade knives as the uprising spread through the sprawling prison, a sheriff said.

    May 22, 2012

  • Miss. voter ID bill signed, awaits feds’ scrutiny

    Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant on Thursday signed a bill requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, but it’s unclear whether it will become law.

    May 18, 2012

Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
House Ads
Seasonal Content
AP Video
Raw Video: Gay Protest Blocked in Moscow Vatican in Chaos After Butler Arrested for Leaks Jimmy Carter Endorses Egypt's Election Results Biden Addresses West Point Graduating Class Dozens of Children Killed in New Syria Attack Raw Video: Activists Allege Massacre in Syria NJ Man Charged With Murder in Death of Patz Support, Fun for Kids of Fallen Soldiers at Camp Fugitive Penguin Caught, Returned to Aquarium 50 Years Later, Underground Fire Still Burning Light Show Transforms Sydney Opera House Raw Video: Unruly Passenger Restrained in Miami Raw Video: Robber Uses Drive-thru Window Raw Video: Dragon Arrives at Space Station Calif.'s Coronado Named Nation's Best Beach CEO Salaries Become Sore Issue in Labor Disputes
Hyperlocal Search
Premier Guide
Find a business

Walking Fingers
Maps, Menus, Store hours, Coupons, and more...
Premier Guide
Popular Searches
Powered by Local.com
Parade
Magazine

Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
Twitter Updates
Follow us on twitter
Follow me on Twitter