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The narrative has developed that 74% of the individuals who went to the polls in November supported medical marijuana legalization. However in actuality, the convoluted course of enacted by legislators used to position a substitute for a citizen-sponsored initiative on the poll makes it troublesome to gauge the exact stage of assist for medical marijuana.
Nonetheless, that narrative led to the creation of the “We’re the 74” group and Fb web page referencing the 74% of voters who presumably voted in favor of legalizing medical marijuana. “We’re the 74” is the rallying cry of a lot of individuals who need the Legislature to approve medical marijuana – sooner quite than later – after the Mississippi Supreme Court struck down the medical marijuana initiative permitted overwhelmingly by voters.
It’s inaccurate to say that 74% of people that went to the polls in November favored the legalization of medical marijuana. It will be true to say that the November vote signifies a powerful majority favored medical marijuana legalization.
Granted, within the grand scheme, it makes little distinction whether or not medical marijuana assist on the polls in November was at 65%, 75% or another overwhelming quantity. Nonetheless, you will need to present correct data aand the context of that assist.
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The 74% is the proportion of people that voted for the citizen-sponsored Initiative 65, which legalized medical marijuana, in comparison with the 26% who voted for the legislative various. Each legalized medical marijuana, although the legislative various did so with many extra restrictions than did the citizen-sponsored initiative. However primarily based on that end result, 100% of voters supported legalizing medical marijuana in some method.
However to argue that 100% of individuals voted in favor of medical marijuana additionally can be a false narrative.
What’s vital to recollect is that Mississippians are confronted with two questions when the Legislature opts to position on the poll an alternate – competing proposal – to a citizen-sponsored initiative. Some argue that the Legislature deliberately developed the convoluted, two-question course of to enact a citizen-sponsored initiative to make it tougher to cross any proposal opposed by the Legislature.
Underneath that convoluted course of, the primary query provides voters two choices: to assist both the citizen-sponsored initiative or the legislative various, whereas the second possibility is to oppose each.
If opposition to each receives extra votes than the assist for both the citizen-sponsored initiative or the legislative various, then that’s the ballgame. Each are defeated. However this previous November, 816,107 (68.5%) voted in favor of the citizen-sponsored initiative or the legislative various, whereas 374,931 (31.5%) voted towards each, in response to official outcomes from the Mississippi Secretary of State.
Maybe it might be argued, primarily based on the primary query, that just about 69% favored the legalization of medical marijuana, not 74%. But it surely might be argued that quantity just isn’t appropriate both. In any case, there theoretically may have been voters who opposed each the citizen-sponsored initiative and the legislative various, however supported the idea of medical marijuana. If that was the case, and in the event that they took the query actually, they might have voted no on the primary query.
And by the way, to additional complicate an advanced course of, individuals who vote towards each on the primary query can nonetheless vote for both the legislative various or the citizen-sponsored initiative on the second query.
In fact, this all got here up after the Supreme Court docket in late Might in a landmark and controversial 6-3 resolution struck down the medical marijuana initiative permitted by voters in November and, whereas doing so, struck down your entire initiative course of. The court docket dominated the initiative course of invalid as a result of language within the Structure requires signatures to position a difficulty on the poll be gathered equally from 5 congressional districts. The issue, the Court docket dominated, is that the state has had solely 4 districts because the 2000 Census.
Supporters of medical marijuana, upset with the court docket ruling, rallied across the “We’re the 74” mantra. There may be nothing fallacious with that. It makes the purpose that a big share of Mississippians assist the legalization of medical marijuana and are actually asking the Legislature to enact what was taken away from them by the Supreme Court docket.
It is likely to be 74% who assist medical marijuana. It is likely to be rather less. It is likely to be a bit of extra.
It’s simply arduous to establish from the November election. Maybe it could be a public service if legislators would simplify a convoluted poll course of as they work within the coming months to revive the initiative course of struck down by the Supreme Court docket.
BOBBY HARRISON is Mississippi At present’s senior Capitol reporter and was a longtime Capitol reporter for the Day by day Journal. Readers can contact him at (601) 946-9931 or bharrison@mississippitoday.org.
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