Only five flags remain in the running to become Mississippi's new state flag. The nine-member Flag Commission met Tuesday to discuss submissions, make minor adjustments to designs, and rank their top five out of eight flag options.
These final designs will be uploaded to the Internet for the public to view and leave comments about the choices, says Katie Blount, Executive Director of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History. She says the flags will be manufactured this week for presentation in front of the old Capitol building next Tuesday. "Also while that's happening, we'll be clearing the rights," says Blount. "Even if they've been altered, we'll clear the right on the original designs, and if the rights can't be cleared the flag will drop out."
The five remaining flags include three with a magnolia blossom, one with a magnolia tree and one with a shield.
Mississippi legislators recently retired the last state flag with the Confederate battle emblem that's condemned as racist.
Some Mississippians are upset over the process of changing the state flag. The group Let Mississippi Vote has created a ballot initiative that puts the retired flag and three other flag designs on the statewide ballot. State Senator Joey Fillingane of Sumrall voted against changing the flag and supports the initiative. He says when the public was allowed to vote on the flag in 2001, it set a precedent for public input the state legislature did not honor. "I just want to keep my word and my commitment to the folks who I represent in District 41, that I wanted them to have a direct say in that issue," says Fillingane. "And again if they want to change it by majority vote, I'm perfectly fine with that. I just didn't think we should do it for them without their direct involvement."
The ballot initiative must receive more than 100,000 signatures across the state to be approved for future elections, but it will not appear on the November ballot.
