Mississippi Amendment 8, Establish Initiated Constitutional Amendments Measure (1992)

Mississippi Amendment 8
Election date November 3, 1992
Topic Ballot measure process and Initiative and referendum process
Status Approved
Type Legislatively referred constitutional amendment	Origin State legislature

Mississippi Amendment 8 was on the ballot as a legislatively referred constitutional amendment in Mississippi on November 3, 1992. It was approved.

A "yes" vote supported amending the state constitution to adopt a process for citizens to propose indirect initiated constitutional amendments and prohibiting their use to modify or repeal the Mississippi Bill of Rights, the right to work, the initiative process, or the Mississippi Public Employees' Retirement System.

A "no" vote opposed amending the state constitution to adopt a process for citizens to propose indirect initiated constitutional amendments.

Election results

Mississippi Amendment 8
Result		Votes	Percentage
Yes		592,536	70.22%
No		251,276	29.78%

Results are officially certified.

Source

Aftermath

On May 14, 2021, the Mississippi Supreme Court overturned Initiative 65, a 2020 medical marijuana initiative. The ruling stated that the initiative petition did not comply with the signature distribution requirements in the Mississippi Constitution and that it is impossible for any petition to meet the requirements and has been impossible since congressional reapportionment in 2001.

The six justices wrote, "... Whether with intent, by oversight, or for some other reason, the drafters of [the constitutional signature distribution requirement] wrote a ballot initiative process that cannot work in a world where Mississippi has fewer than five representatives in Congress. To work in today’s reality, it will need amending—something that lies beyond the power of the Supreme Court."

Amendment 8 required signatures to be collected evenly from all five congressional districts that existed at the time. It mandated no more than one-fifth of the required signatures could be collected from any single congressional district. During 2001 redistricting after the 2000 census, however, the number of congressional districts in the state was reduced to four.

Click here for more information on the lawsuit and the ruling.

Text of measure

Ballot title

The ballot title for Amendment 8 was as follows:

“

This proposed constitutional amendment authorizes and prescribes the procedure by which the people may propose and adopt amendments to the Constitution. The initiative process cannot be used to modify or repeal the Mississippi Bill of Rights, the right to work, the initiative process or the Mississippi Public Employees' Retirement System.

”

Full Text

The full text of this measure is available here.

Path to the ballot

A two-thirds (66.67%) vote is required of all members of the legislature during one legislative session for the Mississippi State Legislature to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot.

See also

1992 Measures

• 1992 Measures
• Initiative and referendum process on the ballot
• Ballot measure process on the ballot
• 1992 legislative sessions

Mississippi

• Mississippi ballot measures
• Mississippi ballot measure laws

News and analysis

• Ballot measure lawsuits
• Ballot measure readability
• Ballot measure polls