As the state now operates under new laws to encourage governmentopenness, officials are promoting three upcoming general electionballot measures where motivated citizens got involved in hopes ofchange in other aspects of government.

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann visited Brookhaven this weekand took the chance to shine the election spotlight on initiativedrives involving voter ID, a personhood amendment and eminentdomain.

Voters are to make their decisions on the important issues in theNovember general election. Hosemann stressed the point of votersparticipating in all races and issues on the Nov. 8 ballot.

“We’re telling everyone, ‘Don’t just vote for governor and walkout,'” Hosemann said.

From a motivated citizen standpoint, the great thing about gettingthe important issues on the ballot is the amount work involved indoing so.

In the initiative process, a total of 89,285 signatures ofregistered voters had to be collected, with at least 17,857 comingfrom each of the five congressional districts as they existed priorto 2000. The petition signatures also had to be verified by countycircuit clerks.

Given the legwork involved in the initiative process, Hosemannbelieves awareness of the measures is high.

Nevertheless, as required by law, Hosemann will be conducting aseries of public hearings around the state starting July 7 toinform citizens of the pros and cons of the proposed laws.Copiah-Lincoln Community in Natchez will host the hearing for thisarea on August 25.

Citizens may also go to the Secretary of State’s website atwww.sos.ms.gov to offer their input on the issues.