Mississippi Today
Secretary of state moves to dismiss GOP lawsuit trying to limit mail-in absentee ballotsĀ
The secretary of state's office and two advocacy groups on Tuesday asked a court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the state Republican and Libertarian parties seeking to limit the number of mail-in absentee ballots during the upcoming presidential and congressional election.
The Mississippi Alliance for Retired Americans and Vet Voice Foundation, two groups who intervened in the suit, and Secretary of State Michael Watson's office argued in separate briefings that the federal litigation should be dismissed because the political parties lack legal standing to bring the suit.
āThe Mississippi Statute does not harm the plaintiff individuals or political parties in any way,ā Special Assistant Attorney General Rex Shannon III wrote on behalf of Watson's office. āIt does not conflict with laws that set the election day for federal offices. And it does not impair the plaintiffs' rights to vote or to stand for office under the First and/or Fourteenth Amendments.āĀ
The litigation marks a peculiar scenario where the national and state Republican parties have filed suit over a law that passed a GOP-dominated Legislature and was signed into law by Republican Gov. Tate Reeves.
Watson, a Republican, is the state's chief elections administrator and is now tasked with fighting his own political party in court using attorneys from Republican Attorney General Lynn Fitch's office.
The statute in question is a 2020 law requiring local election workers to count mail-in absentee ballots for up to five days after the election date. The Mississippi law currently permits election workers to count mail-in votes only if the ballots were postmarked by the election date.
Legislative leaders at the time pushed for the law because election officials worried they would have an influx of mail-in ballots to process during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The national and state GOP and the state Libertarian Party argue that the federal judge presiding over the suit should bar election workers from counting mail-in absentee ballots after Election Day because only Congress gets to determine the procedures for federal elections.
To support the Republican Party's argument, Mississippi GOP Chairman Frank Bordeaux wrote in a signed declaration that the statute dilutes the weight of ballots cast on Election Day and harms conservative candidates running for office.
āMississippi's mail-in deadline forces the MS GOP to divert resources and spend money on absentee-specific programs and post-election activities,ā Bordeaux wrote. āThe mail-in deadline effectively forces the MS GOP to run Election Day activities for an additional week after the national Election Day has passed.ā
The Democratic National Committee, Disability Rights Mississippi and the League of Women Voters of Mississippi attempted to intervene in the litigation, but U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. denied their request.
Instead, the DNC and the two advocacy organizations filed a ā friend-of-the-courtā brief also arguing the suit should be dismissed because the plaintiffs do not have legal standing.Ā
U.S. District Judge Louis Guirola Jr. ordered all of the parties to file all responses to the pending motions by April 9 and file responses to the replies by April 16.
While the litigation is pending, the Republican-majority state Senate passed a bill to abolish the five-day window for processing the absentee ballots after Election Day, but it has not yet passed the GOP-controlled House. Senate Elections Chairman Jeremy England, the author of the bill, said the legislation was not a response to the federal litigation.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1896
MAY 18, 1896
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 7-1 in Plessy v. Ferguson that racial segregation on railroads or similar public places was constitutional, forging the āseparate but equalā doctrine that remained in place until 1954.
In his dissent that would foreshadow the ruling six decades later in Brown v. Board of Education, Justice John Marshall Harlan wrote that āseparate but equalā rail cars were aimed at discriminating against Black Americans.
āIn the view of the Constitution, in the eye of the law, there is in this country no superior, dominant, ruling class of citizens,ā he wrote. āOur Constitution in color-blind and neither knows nor tolerates classes among citizens. In respect of civil rights, all citizens are equal before the law. The humblest is the peer of the most powerful. The law ā¦ takes no account of his surroundings or of his color when his civil rights as guaranteed by the supreme law of the land are involved.ā
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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Mississippi Today
Renada Stovall, chemist and entrepreneur
Renada Stovall sat on the back deck of her rural Arkansas home one evening, contemplating life when she had a life-altering epiphany…
“I gotta get out of these woods.ā
She heard it as clear as lips to her ear and as deep as the trees surrounding her property. Stovall's job as a chemist had taken her all over the country. In addition to Arkansas, there were stints in Atlanta, Dallas and Reno. But she was missing home, her parents and friends. She also knew, she needed something else to do.
“I thought, what kind of business can I start for myself,” said Stovall, as she watered herbs growing in a garden behind her south Jackson home. Some of those herbs are used in her all-natural products. āI know when I lived in Reno, Nevada, where it's very hot and very dry, there really weren't products available that worked for me, my hair, and my skin suffered. I've got a chemistry degree from Spelman College. I took the plunge and decided to create products for myself.ā
In 2018, Stovall's venture led to the creation of shea butter moisturizers and natural soaps. But she didn't stop there, and in December 2022, she moved home to Mississippi and got to work, expanding her product line to include body balms and butters, and shampoos infused with avocado and palm, mango butter, coconut and olive oils.
Nadabutter, which incorporates Renada's name, came to fruition.
Stovall sells her balms and moisturizers at what she calls, āpop-up markets,ā across the state during the summer. She's available via social media and also creates products depending on what of her ingredients a customer chooses. āMy turmeric and honey is really popular,ā Stovall added.
āThe all-natural ingredients I use are great for conditioning the skin and hair. All of my products make you feel soft and luscious. The shea butter I use comes from West Africa. It's my way of networking and supporting other women. And it's my wish that other women can be inspired to be self-sufficient in starting their own businesses.ā
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1954
MAY 17, 1954
In Brown v. Board of Education and Bolling v. Sharpe, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously ruled that the āseparate but equalā doctrine in Plessy v. Ferguson was unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment, which guaranteed equal treatment under the law.
The historic decision brought an end to federal tolerance of racial segregation, ruling in the case of student Linda Brown, who was denied admission to her local elementary school in Topeka, Kansas, because of the color of her skin.
In Mississippi, segregationist leaders called the day āBlack Mondayā and took up the charge of the just-created white Citizens' Council to preserve racial segregation at all costs.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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