Hosemann: Voter ID likely on Mississippi ballot in 2011

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September 22, 2009

Anonymous The Meridian Star Tue Sep 22, 2009, 11:29 PM CDT

JACKSON (AP) — Mississippians are more likely to consider a voter-identification ballot measure in 2011 than in 2010, the state’s top elections official said Tuesday.

If approved, the proposal would require people to show a driver’s license or other ID before casting a ballot. Republican sponsors say this could prevent some election fraud, but opponents there’s been little evidence of people trying to vote under others’ names.

Opponents also say an ID requirement could be used to intimidate older black voters who were subject to poll taxes decades ago.

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann told lawmakers Tuesday he believes it’s unlikely the Republican sponsors of the ID initiative will gather the required 90,000 signatures of registered voters on petitions by Oct. 7, the deadline to make the November 2010 ballot that will include the four U.S House races.

If organizers miss the deadline next month, they have until February next year to submit the signatures to put the initiative on ballots in November 2011, when races for governor and other statewide offices are being decided.

The February deadline marks one year since organizers filed paperwork to start the process of gathering signatures on petitions.

Hosemann, a Republican, supports the voter ID initiative but said Tuesday it is only a partial solution to election problems his office has found.

‘‘It is not the be-all, end-all,’’ Hosemann said of voter ID.

Hosemann’s comments came as he appeared before the Joint Legislative Budget Committee to present a spending request for the year that begins next July 1. Lawmakers frequently use the budget hearings to ask agency directors general questions about their duties, which is how voter ID came up for discussion.

Democratic Rep. Steve Holland of Plantersville reminded Hosemann that the House passed a voter ID bill with bipartisan support earlier this year, but Republicans killed the bill in a Senate committee. Among those killing the bill was Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, who became the leader of the petition effort.

‘‘It was a train wreck on the Senate side,’’ Holland told Hosemann.

Republican Billy Hewes III of Gulfport, one of the senators who killed the House bill, reminded Holland on Tuesday that a House committee had also rejected a plan from the Senate.

Mississippi Republican Party chairman Brad White, who did not attend the state budget hearing Tuesday, said about 40,000 signatures have been verified on the voter ID petitions.

White said he believes the initiative will pass if it gets on the ballot. He said some Republicans want to vote on the issue in 2010, but others believe turnout will be higher in 2011 because the governor’s race motivates people to vote.

‘‘I’ll take either one,’’ White said.

The ID initiative could help increase turnout among conservative voters, which could help Republican candidates.

Getting the correct number of signatures from each part of the state can be tricky. State law requires the signatures to be divided equally among the five U.S. House districts Mississippi used during the 1990s: in the northeast, the Delta, east-central, southwest and the Gulf Coast.

Because Mississippi grew more slowly than many other states during the 1990s, it dropped to four U.S. House districts after the 2000 Census. But the state law governing ballot initiatives was not updated to use the four new districts for signature gathering.

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