Live updates: Mississippi votes for medical marijuana, a new flag and Cindy Hyde-Smith
Mississippians have overwhelmingly voted for medical marijuana, Initiative 65 and a new state flag.
About two-thirds of voters said they wanted to allow a medical marijuana program. And about 75%of respondents chose Initiative 65, the measure that qualified for the ballot earlier this year on the strength of citizen signatures.
The new flag featuring a magnolia will replace the retired flag with its Confederate battle emblem that flew from 1894 through June of 2020, when the state Legislature finally voted to retire it.
The Legislature is expected to approve the “In God We Trust” flag as the official state flag when it convenes in January.
With 78% of precincts reporting, voters supported the new flag design by a margin of 69.7% to 30.3. The flag features a magnolia and the words, “In God We Trust.”
Hyde-Smith defeats Espy in Senate race
Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith has been declared the winner of the U.S. Senate race, leading by a bigger margin than forecast in pre-election polls.
She defeated Mike Espy, a former Secretary of Agriculture who also unsuccessfully challenged her in a 2018 special election.
On the Coast, the Harrison County tax collector’s race will go to a runoff because none of the five candidates in the nonpartisan special election received more than 50% of the vote.
Interim Tax Collector Sharon A. Nash Barnett, who received the most votes, will face Harrison County Supervisor Connie Rockco in the runoff.
Three statewide initiatives headed for passage
With 50% of votes in statewide, Mississippi voters are so far supporting all three initiatives on the ballot.
The Magnolia flag, featuring the lettering “In God We Trust, has gotten 70.4% of votes with only 29.6% against the design as the official state flag. It would replace the last state flag in the nation to feature a Confederate battle emblem, which the state Legislature retired this summer.
Voters support medical marijuana by a margin of 67% to 33%. Most voters then selected the medical marijuana proposal placed on the ballot by a statewide initiative, 65, as opposed to the Legislature’s proposal, 65A.
Voters also support ending eliminating a Jim Crow-era law that required candidates for statewide office to win a majority of Mississippi’s four House Districts. Almost 78 percent of voters favor a simple majority vote to secure statewide office, while 22.4% are opposed.
Harrison, Jackson Counties go big for Initiative 65
With 100% of Harrison and Jackson County precincts reporting, results show voters strongly supported Initiative 65.
In answer to the first ballot question about whether the state should establish a medical marijuana program, 76.3% said yes.
In answer to the second question, whether they preferred Initiative 65 or the state legislature’s alternative 65A, 83.1% chose Initiative 65.
The picture was similar in Jackson County, where 66.9% of voters approved of medical marijuana and 79.7% said they preferred Initiative 65.
Initiative 65 looks set to pass, with strong majorities statewide preferring it to 65A.
State flag, initiative 65 have strong starts
The state flag and marijuana referendums are off to a strong start with over 30% of Mississippi precincts reporting.
On the measure to approve the Magnolia “In God We Trust” flag, 70% are voting in support of the new design.
Medical marijuana is also performing well in the early vote. The yes-or-no vote on medical marijuana has 67.9% of the vote.
Initiative 65 also has a strong lead over 65A with 74% of the vote.
All measures need a simple majority to receive approval.
Poll workers reflect on election
As the polls closed in the Gaston Point neighborhood in Gulfport, poll workers — veteran and relatively new alike — agreed that a very unusual Election Day had gone well, all things considered.
Ruthie Thaggart-White arrived at the Gaston Point Community Center three minutes before 6 a.m. to start setting up. She’s been a poll worker for 20 years, and she wasn’t going to stop because of the pandemic, though many of the other regular poll workers chose to sit this one out, she said.
By the time she arrived in the morning, there were already three people waiting outside. The steady flow had continued all day, producing a turnout unlike anything she had seen since 2008, when President Barack Obama won the presidency, “and I think it’s more now,” she said.
Cedrick Bass, who worked his first election in 2018, said that just the day before, it had appeared possible that the community center wouldn’t even be able to open as a polling location: Hurricane Zeta had left the building and most of the neighborhood without power, even days after the storm. But at about 3 p.m. Monday, he said, the lights came back on.
The poll workers had bottles of hand sanitizer, disposable gloves, and extra masks for anyone who forgot theirs. They sanitized the plastic folders they handed to voters with their ballots, and each voter got to keep their own pen reading “I voted!” — a voting souvenir like the traditional sticker, updated for the pandemic.
One couple had driven all the way from Houston because their mail-in absentee ballots never arrived. They had to cast an affidavit ballot. But otherwise, Thaggart-White said, there had been no issues.
Thaggart-White enjoys working at the polls because she gets to help people complete their ballots appropriately.
“And sometimes I meet some of my friends,” she said.
As she stood at her post helping voters insert their completed ballots into the machines, one of those friends walked in.
“Where’ve you been?” she asked.
“At home,” Thaggart-White replied.
Outside, Gaston Point neighbor Jeffrey Hulum III was resting for a moment after having spent the day driving to every precinct in Gulfport, twice. He had seen only one technical glitch, which was quickly resolved, and none of the scuffles or violence that some had feared before the election.
“It shows the professionalism of the Gulf Coast,” he said, “that we can agree to disagree and still have a fair and transparent election.”
How Mississippi voted for president
Donald Trump has carried Mississippi for the second time with the Associated Press calling the race 5 minutes after the polls closed at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Trump receives six electoral votes by carrying the Magnolia state.
Trump earned 57.86% of the vote in 2016 with Hillary Clinton claiming 40.06%.
Senate race: Cindy Hyde-Smith vs. Mike Espy
In addition to the presidential race, a U.S. Senate race was on the ballot in Mississippi, where Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith was trying to fend off a challenge from Democrat Mike Espy.
Hyde-Smith, appointed to the seat after longtime Sen. Thad Cochran resigned for health reasons, beat Espy in a 2018 special election runoff.
Hyde-Smith maintained her lead in pre-election polls, although Espy raised far more money in the final months of the campaign and focused on getting out the Black vote on election day.
State flag: yes or no to Magnolia design
Two other big-ticket issues on Mississippi ballots were legalization of medical marijuana and a new state flag to replace the flag with Confederate battle emblem that the state Legislature finally agreed this summer to retire.
Medical marijuana: yes or no
Voters first had to choose whether to allow medical marijuana at all in the state, then choose between Initiative 65 or 65A.
Medical marijuana: 65 or 65A
Record absentee ballots in MS
Mississippi, which has 1,985,928 active registered voters, also saw a record number of absentee ballots cast. Mississippi is one of only five states where an excuse is needed for early voting. By Sunday, 231,031 absentee ballots had been filed, compared to a total of 102,915 received in the 2016 presidential election.
Circuit clerks will continue to receive and count absentee ballots that arrive through 5 p.m. on Nov. 10 as long as they are postmarked by 5 p.m. Nov. 3.
Big turnout
South Mississippi voters lined up in record numbers Tuesday to cast ballots in a historic election year, when the threat of COVID-19 looms and the overall result is far from certain in a bitterly contested presidential race.
“As far as we’re concerned, Mississippi lines on election day have never looked like this, so we’re confident it’s a record turnout,” said Kendra James, communications director for Secretary of State Michael Watson.
“Obviously, way longer lines than what Mississippi is used to, but we’re just excited that everybody has turned out and is exercising their right to vote.”
Voters in some cases waited in lines for an hour or more at South Mississippi precincts, where few problems were widely reported despite the crowds and COVID-19 safety measures in force.
South Mississippi voters were determined to have their say.
“This is the heaviest voting Hancock County has ever seen before,” Hancock County Circuit Clerk Kendra Necaise said. “The lines are excessively long and they have been since 7 o’clock this morning when the polls opened, but everything is going smoothly even with the large crowds.”
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 7:00 PM.