Mississippians to also vote on mandated term limits

Initiative No. 9 would place two-term limit on state legislators

Paul Watkins
DM Staff writer

When Mississippians across the state hit the polls today to pick their new state leaders, they will also decide whether mandated term limits should be placed on state legislators.

Initiative measure No. 9, which would become an amendment to the state constitution, would limit all state representatives and senators to no more than two consecutive terms, or eight years at a time.

Should the initiative pass, the new limits would go into effect at the time of the next statewide election in 2003 and limit the terms of officials beginning in 2012.

Opponents to the term limits initiative point out that its major proponent is a Washington D.C.-based organization that is far-removed from state concerns. U.S. Term Limits, which is hailed by its website as the national leader of the "most successful grassroots campaign since women's suffrage," has been promoting the initiative throughout the state during the election frenzy.

Jim Carrington, director of information for the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation disagreed with USTL's tactics and questioned its motives. The Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation is a organized opponent of the amendment.

Carrington claims the USTL is using out-of-state money to garner support for the initiative.

Carrington said that his organization's opposition to the initiative was due to its rural constituency.

"We feel that this amendment would cause a shift of power into the city-based groups," Carrington said. "We would be looking at a complete rollover of legislature every eight years. The legislative process takes time to learn ... There is a place in the legislature for experience, and we need to let the people decide."

Calls placed to Jason Miller, USTL's director of communications, were not returned as of Monday night.

Gov. Kirk Fordice is one of Mississippi's most vocal proponents of the initiative. In October, Fordice sent out over 13,000 letters urging Mississippians to vote in what he called "an historic opportunity to create a more responsive and representative Mississippi legislature.

"The constitutional amendment is not extreme and will do a world of good for our state," Fordice wrote in October.

The initiative must pass a gauntlet of mathematical equations and legal barricades to become a constitutional amendment.

First, the proposition must receive 50 percent of the vote plus one vote to be cleared. After the votes are tallied, a 40 percent "supermajority" rule must be applied to the numbers.

Because the initiative entails changing the constitution, the final number of votes for the measure should they exceed 50 percent -- must be equal to at least 40 percent of the total votes cast for the amendment to pass. This equation is used to compensate for the estimated dropoff rate, or the number of people who cast votes but don't vote on the initiative.

Also, according to several legal precedents, the proposed amendment could have to be cleared by the Department of Justice, which, according to Carrington, "isn't always a given."

The Associated Press contributed to this story.