Ballot initiatives will short-circuit democracy in Mississippi

As a longtime political activist, I still marvel at how easy it is to talk to state lawmakers. It’s easy to contact them via email. It’s easy to talk to them on the street, at church or in the grocery store. It’s easy to be a citizen advocate at the Capitol. You basically just have to show up and start talking. Even I — a natural introvert — have found state legislators very approachable and friendly.

The legislative process isn’t perfect — no one should expect it to be — but Mississippi’s is a citizen legislature, run by and accessible to ordinary people from all walks of life. A ballot initiative will not make Mississippi more democratic. In fact, it will undermine the democratic process, leading to less transparency, accountability and fairness.

A ballot initiative allows a proposed law or constitutional change to go before voters for a statewide YES or NO vote after the required petition signatures are collected. Unlike ordinary legislation, a ballot initiative does not go through committee hearings or testimony, amendments, legislative debate and votes and gubernatorial action.

Some would have you believe ballot initiatives give voters a greater voice. The truth is that they can water down individual representation. Each community has a state representative and a state senator in the legislature — two leaders among 174 lawmakers who can question, debate, amend and fight for their constituents. With a statewide initiative, each Mississippian would have one vote among nearly 2 million registered voters. Based on these numbers, it’s clear that representative democracy — not the ballot initiative — better represents all voters, but in particular, minority voices and voters.

Consider a hypothetical. Imagine the Legislature is debating state policy regarding large data centers. Lawmakers could examine electricity demand, water use, tax incentives, infrastructure strain, property rights and local effects. They could hear testimony, question experts, bring in local voices, debate the details and amend the bill. In some cases, a single lawmaker could stop the entire process if certain concessions were not made.

A ballot initiative short-circuits this process. It uses slick marketing and easy answers to reduce complicated statewide policy to a simple YES or NO.

A word-limited ballot summary cannot communicate every detail of a complicated proposal, and campaign slogans don’t express nuances. Complex policy does not become simple because it appears on a ballot.

In addition, a data center might be built in a rural Mississippi county where local residents experience unique effects on land, roads, water, utilities and development.

Under a state ballot initiative, this decision could be made by voters who don’t live in this area. Densely populated urban centers, like Jackson and Oxford, naturally contribute more votes, while the communities most directly affected may represent only a small portion of the electorate.

One statewide decision could affect Mississippi communities very differently, and in some cases very unfairly.

Moreover, when legislators pass a bad law, citizens know who voted for it. They can call their lawmaker, demand change and ultimately vote them out.

With an initiative, the people who drafted, financed, gathered signatures for and promoted the proposal may hold no public office and answer to no Mississippi voter.

If the new law creates problems, elected officials will be left holding the bag, as will taxpayers and Mississippi residents. Power should come with accountability.

Statewide initiatives also require substantial money for attorneys, consultants, polling, signature gathering, mailers, television and social media. Organized groups, such as corporations, unions, PACs, trade associations and advocacy organizations, provide a large share of ballot-measure campaign funding. Not infrequently, this money comes from out-of-state groups — including the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). In at least one red state, but probably more, they helped fund a ballot initiative requiring automatic wage increases that would significantly handicap small businesses and job creation.

A ballot initiative could be used to radically transform Mississippi. We all know the Left will use it to eliminate pro-life and Second Amendment protections. Efforts to craft a ballot initiative that would exclude these topics will fail because the new ballot initiative process itself will be used to undermine these guardrails.

Eventually, once the door is opened, the process will be used to legalize abortion. To quote the New York Times editorial board, circa 2023, “There is a newly proven, promising path to restore and safeguard [abortion] rights in many states, including some politically conservative ones controlled by Republicans. ... The perfect record of success for these initiatives … provides a clear political road map toward rescuing reproductive rights in states.” Since Dobbs, at least 11 states have legalized abortion on demand, with virtually no limits, through the initiative process. These are red states like Missouri, Ohio and Montana.

Citizens already have an effective voice through elections, public hearings, elected representatives and a thorough legislative process. A ballot initiative bypasses these safeguards — and thus true freedom — by replacing them with a winner-takes-all vote dominated by money and advertising. That’s not real democracy; it’s rule by the wealthy and by those most able to manipulate public opinion.

The Founders understood these dangers and wisely gave us a republic, not a direct democracy. They did not include a ballot initiative in the U.S. Constitution because they rightly understood that direct democracies are inherently unstable and incompatible with the liberties of the people. We should follow their approach, which has stood the test of time.

Mississippians should not use the ballot initiative to make statewide laws. Instead, they should go to the Capitol and make their voices heard by advocating for the policies they care about. That’s true democracy. And it still works.

Dr. Jameson Taylor is director of the Center for Government Renewal with AFA Action, based in Tupelo, Mississippi.

This article appeared here in the Clarion Ledger.