A bill that would allow recall elections for municipal officials across the state has been proposed to the Mississippi legislature, with Senator John Horhn stating that it might be a “tall order” for voters across the state.
On Wednesday, legislators debated allowing elections for the recalling of municipal officers, as state law currently permits recall elections for county officials.
According to HB 370, which was authored by Shanda Yates, I-Miss, at least 30 percent of voters in an area must sign a petition requesting for an election to be held to remove the official. If the petition is completed, at least half of the electorate must vote in the recall election for the officer to be removed from their position.
Horhn expressed how he believes that although the bill would make it possible to remove a municipal official from office, it would be hard for residents to complete the required steps.
“I think that the bill will probably, even if it became law, it would be very, very difficult to file and successfully recall a municipal elected official,” Horhn said. “Take the city of Jackson, for example. We are not getting more than 25 percent of our electorate voting in general elections. So, to say you’ve got to get 30 percent of all the electors to sign the petition, that’s going to be difficult.”
He also addressed the speculation that legislators are bringing the topic to the forefront because of current leadership in Mississippi’s Capital City.
“There’s been a lot of talk about our incumbent mayor, but there are others around the state that folks may have in mind about a bill like this,” Horhn stated.
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