Black Voters Sue Over Mississippi's Jim Crow-Era Election Law
Four African Americans are suing over a Jim Crow-era election rule that requires statewide officeholders to win a majority of the popular vote and at least 62 of 122 Mississippi state house districts.
Mississippi voters will be choosing a governor and other statewide offices in November under a unique set of election rules that date to the 19th century. A federal lawsuit by four African-American citizens is challenging the system as racially discriminatory.
The target of the lawsuit is what was called "The Mississippi Plan," codified in the state's "to take political power out of the hands of African-Americans, and it was extremely effective," says Paloma Wu, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center's Mississippi office.
