To: Svartalfiar; algore
The full language, from https://www.sos.ms.gov/Education-Publications/Documents/Downloads/Mississippi_Constitution.pdf, is below. As long as EACH of FIVE districts contributed AT LEAST 1/5 of the total required number, the initiative would have qualified. (Still doesn’t work for only four districts.)
“The signatures of the qualified electors from any congressional
district shall not exceed one-fifth (1/5) of the total number of signatures
required to qualify an initiative petition for placement upon the ballot.
If an initiative petition contains signatures from a single congressional
district which exceed one-fifth (1/5) of the total number of required
signatures, the excess number of signatures from that congressional district
shall not be considered by the Secretary of State in determining whether
the petition qualifies for placement on the ballot.”
17 posted on
05/15/2021 12:26:20 PM PDT by
NobleFree
("law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the right of an individual")
To: NobleFree; algore
If an initiative petition contains signatures from a single congressional district which exceed one-fifth (1/5) of the total number of required signatures, the excess number of signatures from that congressional district shall not be considered by the Secretary of State in determining whether the petition qualifies for placement on the ballot
Ah, algore's post didn't include that follow-on sentence. So scratch the parts of my post about each district needing to be exactly equal. BUT, you are correct that with less than five districts, the wording of the Constitution does not allow for citizen initiatives at all. A very simple (odd) oversight that should not have happened when the law was written.
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson