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Few options remain for Mississippians convicted of certain felonies to regain voting rights

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2 years ago

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Mississippians convicted of certain felonies have few options to regain their voting rights — a standard practice in most other states — after the U.S. Supreme Court refused to take up a case attempting to end the lifetime ban on voting.

The nation’s highest court, by a 7-2 vote in late June, refused to hear a Mississippi lawsuit arguing that the state’s lifetime ban on voting for people convicted of certain felonies was unconstitutional. Racist white lawmakers in 1890 who wrote the provision into the current Mississippi Constitution said plainly that they adopted it to keep African Americans from voting.

READ MORE: Attorney General Lynn Fitch argues in federal court that Jim Crow-era voting ban should be upheld

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the Mississippi case, the state remains in the minority as one of fewer than 10 to impose a lifetime ban on voting for people convicted of felonies.

It also appears efforts to remove the ban through the courts have been exhausted. Legal advocates who have long been fighting the Jim Crow provision are now turning their focus to the only viable solution left: the legislative process.

“At a time when most states have repealed their disfranchisement laws, we need to remove from Mississippi’s Constitution this backward provision that was enacted for racist reasons,” said Vangela M. Wade, the president and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Justice, which helped craft the lawsuit that was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. “Here in the 21st Century, just and reasonable minded people must not allow this outdated relic of the 19th Century to stand or define a new Mississippi. The Legislature now has the duty to begin the repeal process.”

The most obvious way to repeal the lifetime ban is to amend the Mississippi Constitution. There is currently one way to amend the Mississippi Constitution: the Legislature, by a two-thirds vote of both the House and Senate, must pass a resolution proposing a change. Then, voters on a statewide ballot must approve that change.

Florida voters recently approved a repeal of that state’s lifetime ban on people convicted of felonies being able to vote. But in Florida, the proposal to repeal the lifetime ban was done through a voter ballot initiative instead of through the Legislature.

Mississippi, though, no longer has an initiative process, which allows voters to gather enough signatures to bypass the Legislature and place an issue directly on the ballot. Mississippi’s voter initiative was struck down by the state Supreme Court in 2021, and the Legislature, despite repeated promises from its leaders, has refused to pass a resolution to restore the process.

There is a way for disenfranchised voters to have their voting rights restored under the current Mississippi Constitution. But that process is rarely used and incredibly cumbersome. The Legislature, by a two-thirds vote, can restore voting rights. Historically, the Legislature has restored the rights one person at a time by passing individual resolutions. But there appears to be a consensus that legislators could pass one bill enacting rights for a large group of people. In the 1940s, for example, legislators passed a bill restoring voting rights for people convicted of felonies who served in World War II.

Additionally, the governor can restore voting rights. But both current Gov. Tate Reeves and his predecessor, Phil Bryant, have refused to grant any pardons.

In other states, governors have restored voting rights to large groups of people in a single order. It is not clear whether a Mississippi governor could do the same, and such a gubernatorial effort might face a court challenge.

All said, there is no indication that the current Republican leadership is interested in restoring voting rights on a large basis to people convicted of felonies. Since they took control of both chambers of the Legislature and the Governor’s Mansion in 2012, Republicans have been reluctant to restore voting rights.

Lawmakers did not restore anyone’s voting rights during the 2023 legislative session.

READ MORE: Key GOP lawmaker says ‘it’s past time’ to address Mississippi’s lifetime felony voting ban

In 2022, the Legislature did pass a bill to clarify that people who had certain primarily non-violent convictions expunged would regain the right to vote. But Reeves vetoed the bill, and legislators made no effort to override the veto.

Years ago, efforts were made to reach a compromise. Under the current legal system, people convicted of certain serious crimes, such as selling drugs or sexual assault of minors, do not lose the right to vote and can even continue to vote while incarcerated. On the other hand, people convicted of what many would consider lesser crimes, such as writing a bad check, lose their right to vote forever.

To address that disparity, some lawmakers over the years proposed banning all people from voting while they were in state custody, but allow them to vote once they finished their sentences. None of those bills, however, have been adopted.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson wrote a blistering dissent arguing the Supreme Court should take up the case challenging the constitutionality of the Mississippi provision.

In response, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens said he would take steps when possible to ensure people did not lose their voting rights.

“My office will seek to protect the accused’s voting rights, where possible, when making charging decisions,” Owens said in a news release. “If a person is accused of a disenfranchising crime, and a parallel charge is available that does not affect his or her voting rights, my office will proceed on the parallel charge. I challenge other district attorneys across the state to join me in taking up Justice Jackson’s charge and adopt similar policies to protect our citizens from discriminatory disenfranchisement.”

Those crimes placed in the constitution where conviction costs a person the right to vote are bribery, theft, arson, obtaining money or goods under false pretense, perjury, forgery, embezzlement, bigamy and burglary. The framers of the constitution did not include murder and rape as disenfranchising crimes, though they were added years later. More recently, the list has been expanded through opinions of the state Attorney General to include modern day crimes that matched those included in the 1890 Constitution.

The framers of the Mississippi Constitution said plainly in 1890 that they included those crimes because they believed African Americans were more likely to commit them. The framers also included other racist provisions to keep Black Mississippians from voting, such as poll taxes and so-called literacy tests.

Those provisions, unlike felony suffrage, were all struck down by the federal courts — not by state legislative action.

READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves vetoes bill easing Jim Crow-era voting restrictions

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

Senate passes its income tax cut plan

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11 hours ago

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February 24, 2025

By

mississippitoday.org – Taylor Vance – 2025-02-24 18:47:00

Senate passes its income tax cut plan

by Taylor Vance, Mississippi Today
February 24, 2025

The Senate voted Monday evening to pass a tax cut that reduces the state income tax and the sales tax on groceries while raising the gasoline tax, setting up negotiations with the House.

The measure passed the GOP-majority Senate 34-15, with four Democrats supporting it and four Republicans opposing it. It now heads to the House, whose leadership is advocating for its own plan, which would eventually eliminate the state individual income tax.

The Senate plan amounts to a net tax cut of $326 million, a more modest sum than the $1.1 billion net cut passed by the House. The Senate would reduce the state’s flat 4% income tax to 2.99% over four years, while the House would eliminate the income tax over more than a decade.

Senate Finance Chairman Josh Harkins, a Republican from Flowood, told reporters that the legislation was a responsible way to cut taxes while slightly increasing the gasoline tax to provide more revenue for infrastructure funding. 

“I think we’ve put forward a really good plan that helps families at the grocery store by lowering the sales tax on groceries,” Harkins said. “And it provides incentives and rewards work.” 

The Senate plan would reduce the state’s 7% sales tax on grocery items, the highest in the nation, to 5% starting July 2025. Municipalities receive a portion of grocery tax revenue, and the Senate plan would make cities whole. 

The Senate bill would raise the state’s 18.4-cents-a-gallon gasoline excise by three cents yearly over the next three years, eventually resulting in a 27.4 cents-per-gallon gas tax at completion. This is an effort to help the Mississippi Department of Transportation with a long-running shortfall of highway maintenance money.

Most of the chamber’s Democratic members opposed the plan over fears that the state could not afford to wipe out around half a billion dollars each year from its budget and still address some of the state’s critical issues such as public education and health care. 

“That’s a lot of money, and we need that money for basic infrastructure,” Democratic Sen. Hob Bryan of Amory said. “Everyone benefits from infrastructure.”

Some Democratic members attempted to amend the bill to eliminate the grocery tax or change the tax structure to avoid increasing the gas tax. But the GOP-majority chamber on party-line votes defeated the amendments. 

Four Republican senators voted against the final measure because it raised the gasoline tax, something they viewed as going against the GOP’s core ideology. 

Sen. Angela Burks Hill, a Republican from Picayune, told reporters the gas tax increase would hurt rural people the most because they have to drive further for work and to purchase groceries. 

“I’m just trying to follow my party’s platform of low taxes,” Hill said. 

Now that both chambers at the Capitol have passed separate tax proposals, the key question will be how much legislative leaders can compromise on a final package. House Speaker Jason White, a Republican from West, and Republican Gov. Tate Reeves have said abolishing the income tax is their primary goal this session. 

White previously told Mississippi Today that he’s willing to compromise with the Senate, but he wants a final tax cut that’s substantive and meaningful. 

“We’re not interested in a small piece of a tax cut while not addressing other issues,” White said. 

Reeves has thrown cold water on the Senate’s proposal because it doesn’t entirely eliminate the income tax. If lawmakers can’t agree on a proposal, he could call them into a special session to address taxes. 

Harkins, though, said he hopes lawmakers can “build consensus” on a final package during the regular session. House and Senate leaders will likely debate the measure for the next month. The deadline for lawmakers to approve tax and appropriations bills is March 31. 

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

City goes to the suburbs, and Germantown is the winner

Published

14 hours ago

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February 24, 2025

By

mississippitoday.org – Rick Cleveland – 2025-02-24 16:20:00

City goes to the suburbs, and Germantown is the winner

by Rick Cleveland, Mississippi Today
February 24, 2025

Michael Williams slams home a dunk after an alley oop pass from his brother, Mason, who was 30 feet away from the basket and out of the picture.

Can’t tell you how many times I’ve been asked this question in recent years: What has happened to Jackson Public Schools basketball?

Good question.

And I do know the answer, at least a large part of it. But first some background.

Used to be, you could count on several JPS powerhouses to bring huge crowds to the State Tournament at Mississippi Coliseum every February to watch Murrah, Lanier, Provine, Callaway and Jim Hill teams that annually produced some of the greatest basketball talent in Mississippi history. Often, fire marshalls stepped in and locked the Coliseum doors with still hundreds of fans outside hoping to get in.

That’s no longer the case. Not a single JPS boys team made it to the State semifinals this year. (The Lanier girls will play Choctaw County in a 4A semifinal game Wednesday afternoon.) Even just a decade ago, no JPS boys teams in the State Championships would have been heresy. This is not to say that the Jackson metro area is not represented at the Big House. Northwest Rankin, Brandon, Germantown and Madison Central teams all played in the semifinals on Monday. The Canton girls and boys will play Tuesday.

The suburbs are killing it. Inner city Jackson is not.

Sam Funches, 32, slams a dunk for Germantown in the Mavs’ 55-30 victory over Biloxi.

OK, so here’s a major reason why: In many cases, the city has moved to the suburbs. This is best illustrated by how the Germantown team from out Gluckstadt way hammered Biloxi 55-30 in the Monday noon Class 7A semifinals. 

There were Germantown guards Michael and Mason Williams controlling the flow of the game with their ball-handling, passing and defensive skills. There was 7-footer Sam Funches IV dominating the paint at both ends with his length, nifty footwork and soft touch around the basket. There was guard/forward Michael Johnson contributing in so many ways with hustle and grit. And there was Devin Moore, a sturdy, 6-5 guard/forward scoring nine points on just five shots and also contributing five rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Here’s the deal: Michael Williams (a senior) and Mason Williams (a junior) are the sons of Mo Williams the former Murrah, Alabama and NBA great who now coaches at Jackson State. Funches is the son of Sam Funches III, who also played at Murrah, was recruited by Jim Calhoun at Connecticut and finished his career at North Texas. Johnson’s dad, Trey, played at Murrah and then was the SWAC Player of the Year at Jackson State before a long professional career in the NBA and overseas. Moore’s dad and an uncle both played at Jim Hill. Now, all live in Madison County and have turned the Germantown Mavericks, 23-5, into a powerhouse. The Mavs will play neighboring Madison Central in the 7A championship game, which will be played Thursday night at 8 p.m.

Said Mo Williams, who watched Monday’s proceedings from a seat in the Germantown cheering section, “It’s pretty obvious, isn’t it? It’s like the city has moved to the ‘burbs.”

We weren’t three minutes into the Germantown-Biloxi game when brothers Michael and Mason Williams combined to make a play that reminded we longtime Jackson-area fans of the kind of plays their daddy made at Murrah. Mason lofted a high, looping alley-top pass high above the basket. Michael , who will play for his dad at Jackson State, soared high above the rim and slammed the ball through to give the Mavs a lead they never relinquished. 

Michael dunked again moments later, swished a three-pointer after that, and then scored on a spin move and a mid-range jumper seconds later. Before you knew it, a 7-6 deficit turned into at 21-11 lead, 

Meahwhle, Funches IV, a 16-year-old junior, showed why virtually every college basketball coach in the country is recruiting him. Yes, he needs to get stronger. He could be – and probably will be – more aggressive. But you can’t teach a kid how to be 7 feet tall, and you can’t teach the deft shooting touch he already possesses. That’s inherited. These Germantown players inherited well.

This time last year, Mo Williams’ sons were helping Jackson Academy win the overall private schools state championship at Jackson Academy.  Now they are trying to win a public schools championship.

Michael asked me: “Has anybody ever done that?”

I don’t know. I thought Andy Kennedy, the former Ole Miss and current UAB coach, might have done it back when he still had hair and transferred from Winston Academy to Louisville High School. But Kennedy text-messaged back: ”We won it at Winston but only won the north half at Louisville, got beat in the semifinals at the Coliseum.”

Somebody else might have done it. I don’t know. I do know precious few have had the opportunity.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1956

Published

23 hours ago

on

February 24, 2025

By

mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2025-02-24 07:00:00

Feb. 24, 1956

In 1976, the statue of U.S. Sen. Harry F. Byrd Sr. was erected near the Virginia Capitol. In 2021, the statue was finally removed. Credit: Wikipedia

U.S. Sen. Harry F. Byrd Sr. coined the term “Massive Resistance” to unite white leaders in Virginia in their campaign to preserve segregation. The policy appealed to white Virginians’ racial views, their fears and their disdain for federal “intrusion” into the “Southern way of life.” 

Virginia passed laws to deny state funds to any integrated school and created tuition grants for students who refused to attend these schools. Other states copied its approach. 

When courts ordered desegregation in several schools in Charlottesville and Norfolk, Virginia Gov. James Lindsay Almond Jr. ordered those schools closed. When Almond continued that defiance, 29 of the state’s leading businessmen told him in December 1958 that the crisis was adversely affecting Virginia’s economy. Two months later, the governor proposed a measure to repeal the closure laws and permit desegregation. 

On Feb. 2, 1959, 17 Black students in Norfolk and four in Arlington County peacefully enrolled in what had been all-white schools.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

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