Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann is confidentthat an initiative to add photographic voter ID to the stateconstitution will be on the ballot for the next statewide election,telling the more than 200 members of American Legion Boys StateTuesday that work on the effort is “picking up steam.”

Hosemann said he expects the approximately 90,000 signaturesnecessary to place the initiative on the ballot in 2010 will begathered by November. He said the Mississippi Republican Party,with the help of a few willing Democrats, is already working aroundthe state to gather signatures for the petition.

“There is heavy activity and I think it will pick up during thesummer months,” Hosemann said.

Voter ID was almost passed into law by the Legislature earlierthis year, but the bill was defeated in the Senate ElectionsCommittee. Hosemann called the defeat of House Bill 1533 “verystrange.”

“That was a big thing in state government, that these fourcommittee members overrode the chairman,” he said.

If the voter ID initiative were to appear on the 2010 ballot andbe approved by voters, Hosemann said it would become the firstinitiative-based amendment to Mississippi’s 119-year-oldconstitution. He said the previous 26 attempts have failed.

“It’s a chance for the citizens to rise up and make a decisionwithout the Legislature,” Hosemann said. “Now, because we didn’t(pass voter ID in the Legislautre), we’ve got to go through theinitiative process. It takes a good bit of work.”

The 90,000 signatures necessary for the initiative must comefrom the state’s previous five congressional districts. Currently,there are four districts in the state.

Voter ID is a needed election reform in the state, Hosemannsaid. He pointed to the Macon elections three weeks ago, where 42percent of the vote was made via absentee ballot – an unusuallyhigh number of absentee voters. Hosemann said his office wouldissue a report on Macon’s and other cities’ irregularities duringthe May 5 elections in two weeks.

But Macon isn’t the only source of voting irregularities,Hosemann said. He said 29 of the state’s 82 counties have “morepeople registered to vote than there are breathing in them.” Thoughhaving an overblown voter roll is not itself a violation, it canlead to easier voter fraud.

“It’s going on,” he said of voter fraud. “What’s so important toremember is that when someone votes irregular like that, it’s thesame as your vote. Your ballot is then negated by somebodycheating.”

While fielding questions from Boys State participants, Hosemannalso shared his views on a number of other topics.

Hosemann declared he would not run for governor in 2011, sayinghe would not devote attention away from his current duties in orderto run a campaign.

When asked about term limits, Hosemann said he didn’t thinksupporters could muster the momentum to pass term limit laws inMississippi, adding the state has been served well in the past byrepeating candidates.

Sometimes, however, Hosemann gets frustrated with longtimeoffice holders.

“There are times I wish we had term limits in the Legislaturebecause there’s stuff getting blocked over and over that I’mtrying