A group of black voters represented by a foundation affiliated with former Attorney General Eric Holder’s National Democratic Redistricting Committee is challenging Mississippi’s Jim-Crow era laws written to place black candidates for statewide office at a disadvantage.
According to ThinkProgress, four voters filed suit with the U.S. District Court of Souther Mississippi Thursday, challenging election rules from the state’s 1980 Constitution.
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In Mississippi, candidates for statewide office must win a majority of the state popular vote, but a major of House districts, and the constitution gives state legislature power to pick a winner if a candidate fails to clear both hurdles to victory.
Under the current system, with black residents packed mainly into several small legislative districts, Mississippi’s majority-white population regularly outvotes the concentrated black constituency. When the laws were conceived, however, black people represented the majority of the population. Despite the highest percentage of black residents of any state, no black Mississippian has won a statewide election since 1890.
Source: Black Voters in Mississippi File Lawsuit to Challenge Racist Election Law
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