Mississippians prepare to head to polls to vote on new state flag

SOUTHAVEN, Miss. (WMC) - While more than 170,000 people in Tennessee have already voted during the early voting period, in Mississippi, polls open for the first time Tuesday on Election Day.

All polling locations in Mississippi open for the first time at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m. or whenever the last voter in line at 7 p.m. votes.

Election officials in Mississippi have already warned that they expect some long lines on Election Day, and voters will have some very important initiatives to decide between apart from the Presidential Election and filling an open US Senate seat.

Mississippians will cast their vote on Ballot Measure 3, the State Flag Referendum.

The new flag design, entitled the “In God We Trust” flag has received support from both sides of the aisle and features a magnolia flower in the center, with 20 white stars to symbolize Mississippi as the 20th state in the Union and one gold star to represent the Native Americans who originally settled here.

A no vote would force the state flag commission to propose a new flag design to be voted on in a special election in 2021.

While removing the old Mississippi state flag featuring the Confederate Battle Emblem was controversial, it appears this new flag design could get widespread approval according to one political expert.

“I think at this point it would be surprising if it was not approved,” said Dr. Conor Dowling, Ole Miss Associate Professor of Political Science. “There’s hasn’t been a lot of polling on it, but given the discussion and discourse over the summer. I did see a pole released that was a representative pole of about 500 voters, likely voters, in the state of Mississippi that suggested roughly 60 percent were in favor of the flag as proposed.”

Voters will also choose between two dueling medical marijuana initiatives that may cause confusion amongst voters.

Voters can choose both, one or neither of the medical marijuana ballot initiatives. Initiative 65 and Initiative 65A would both amend the state constitution to legalize medical marijuana in some capacity, but each with different approaches.

To find your the closest polling location to you click here: https://www.sos.ms.gov/pollingplace/pages/default.aspx

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