JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – According to polling by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), 65% of voters support restoring the ballot initiative process in Mississippi.

The Mississippi Supreme Court deemed the process unconstitutional in 2021 after a medical marijuana initiative was approved by voters. The SPLC recommends that legislators listen to the voters.

“Mississippians want a ballot initiative. They want to be able to, if they want something changed in their communities or in the state, that they can have a means to do so in a ballot initiative. Listen to the people here in the state. Listen to those people that vote for you. They are wanting a ballot initiative. They want, they could just return it to what we had before. That would be the easiest and the best thing. It was working. We just encourage legislators to listen to the voters here in the state,” said Sonya Willams Barnes, the Mississippi State Policy Director for the SPLC.

Only one bill survives in the Senate aimed at restoring a similar ballot initiative process. The bill has yet to be brought up on the Senate floor for debate.