Hi team,

Last week, we excitedly told you about how we had just launched a ballot initiative campaign to expand Medicaid in Mississippi. It would deliver health care for over 200,000 people!

After winning Medicaid expansion in six other states, you’d think it might be business as usual, but the team here has been particularly excited about the campaign in Mississippi -- the poorest state in the country.

Then the bad news hit. 

The Mississippi Supreme Court decided a few days ago to overturn a voter-approved medical marijuana law. They basically blocked all ballot initiative campaigns in Mississippi. So we then decided with our in-state partners to suspend our campaign for Medicaid expansion.

All campaigns face setbacks, especially when working in red states. But, this one hurt. A lot.

We saw unprecedented enthusiasm for this campaign and we were thrilled to begin the work to get Medicaid expansion on the ballot after years of obstructionist politicians refusing to help those in need of care in the nation’s poorest state.

But Mississippi’s Supreme Court had other ideas.

I’ll spare you the wonky legal reasoning and just say this: Mississippi’s ballot initiative law, written in 1992, requires signatures to be collected evenly from all five congressional districts.
The problem? Since 2000 Mississippi has only four districts. That’s it.

Our political system is not working. Too many politicians and judges are willing to make it harder for us to vote, to participate in democracy, and to make change in our own communities. Those in power seem to prioritize scoring political points than helping those in need.

This assault on the democratic process must end. 

Our team at The Fairness Project is going to work harder than ever to break through the partisanship, cut through the noise, and make real people-powered change even with a rigged political system.

We will have setbacks like this one. But we’re going to keep fighting -- and winning.

We’ve already won Medicaid expansion through ballot initiatives in six red and purple states. We’re still hard at work on a campaign to put Medicaid expansion on the 2022 ballot in South Dakota.

And we’re preparing to launch even more campaigns in the weeks and months ahead to raise wages, guarantee paid leave, reimagine public safety, and make real progress on economic, racial, and gender justice.

This is tough news. But we’re not going anywhere.

When politicians refuse to act, we keep helping the people decide on issues for ourselves -- because change can’t wait.

On behalf of our whole team at The Fairness Project, thanks for being with us in this fight. We’re so grateful to have you by our side.

Onward,

Jonathan Schleifer
Executive Director
The Fairness Project

P.S. Have any questions about this news or our work? Reply to this email and we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. 

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The Fairness Project
2300 18th St NW #21337
Washington, DC 20009