The addition of a simple question to the ballot by the legislature will make voting difficult. To put the question on the statewide ballot, a group of Mississippians used the state’s ballotinitiative process. The process required approximately 100,000 signatures from Mississippians. After years of stalling at the Capitol over the issue, lawmakers decided earlier this year that an alternative to the citizen sponsored medical marijuana initiative would be on the ballot. The state’s complex initiative laws will allow voters to choose whether they want the citizen-sponsored initiative, the legislative alternative or both. No matter how they vote on the question, voters will still be allowed to vote for the citizen-sponsored Initiative 65 and the legislative alternative. The caveat is that Initiative 65 and the legislative alternate will be dissolved if the majority of voters vote no on the first question. If a majority votes for at least one option, the proposal with the highest number of votes on the second question is approved. The winning proposal must also receive 40% of all votes cast during the election. READ MORE. Here’s how the Mississippi November ballot will look. READ MORE. Mississippi’s medical marijuana rhetoric intensifies with the approaching November vote. There will be two additional proposals on the Nov. 3, but they will not require as much voting. The first proposal will ask voters if they would like to design the flag that was recommended by a commission established by the Legislature to be the official flag for the state. The Legislature created a commission to recommend a new flag after it was decided to retire the state’s 126-year-old flag. The Legislature required that the recommendation of the commission include the words “In God We Trust” but not the Confederate emblem. The group will develop a second recommendation for the 2020 election if the commission’s recommendation is rejected by voters. If the other proposal is approved by voters, it will take language from the Constitution that sends elections for statewide office to the House. The House will decide if any candidate receives more than a majority vote in the House districts or the popular votes. This provision was included in the 1890s state Constitution to ensure that African Americans, who were then a majority in the state of Texas, would not be elected to statewide office. Recently, the Legislature passed a resolution to eliminate the language after it was the subject of a lawsuit. To amend the Constitution, however, the Legislature must also get the support of the voters. The proposal states that if no candidate for the statewide office wins a majority vote, then a runoff between the top two vote-getters will take place. Only Georgia and Louisiana, the other two states that require a runoff are Georgia and Louisiana.