@ariella.elm: In 1890, Mississippi enshrined in their constitution that anyone who had previously been convicted of a crime could not vote. It also says in section 241 that only men can vote, but I digress. This was, and still is so Black men as a voting block have a harder time having their voices heard. Even today the voting block that is most effected by these laws is Black men. In 1950, burglary was removed, and in 1968 r*pe and m*rder were added. In March 2018 on behalf of the thousands of people in MS who have felony convictions who can’t vote, a class action lawsuit was filed. And it looked good there for a while. In August 2023, the 5th circuit court struck down section 241 Well, people (MS AG) who are deadset on disenfranchising voters, especially Black voters didn’t like that answer so he sent it back to the 5th circiut one more time, and on July 18th, they ruled that any changes to the state constitution can’t be made in the courts But do we expect anything different from the 5th circut court? They are, afterall, the most conservative court in the country. However it is worth noting that 6 of the 17 active judges did descent So, there’s that. Look, if they want it to be decided by the legislature and not the courts, then, as usual, it all comes back to the importance of voting. Not enough people vote in local elections, so even in states with gerrymandering and voter supression, the biggest barrier is still voter disenfranchisement. @Nick Powers @Nick Powers has an incredible series about how few already registered democrats would have to vote to flip some pretty big states from “red” to “blue.” He focuses more on federal elections, but it is even more true when we’re talking about the state legislature. If this was an issue that all Mississippians who are eligible to vote cared about and voted accordingly, there is a good chance many legislative seats could be flipped that would surprise you, maybe not all needed to get support for a bill like this, but significantly more than you expect. As always, it really does come back to voting. So no matter where you live, think about this story before skipping state and local races on your ballot. Your vote is your voice and that voice is your superpower 3:10 #VoterDisenfranchisement #VoterSuppression #MississippiElection #Section241

Ariella M. Elm

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Saturday 03 August 2024 20:50:16 GMT