FILE – In this April 3, 2019 file photo, former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. speaks during the National Action Network Convention in New York. A new federal lawsuit being filed Thursday, May 30 by three African American residents of Mississippi seeks to block what it calls the state s racist method of electing the governor and other statewide officials. The lawsuit takes aim at Mississippi s unique requirement that candidates for statewide office must win both a majority of the popular vote and at least 62 of the 122 state House of Representatives districts. Holder said a judge could order Mississippi to do what most states already do – count all the votes and the person who gets the greatest number of votes wins. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File)
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – In 1890, as white politicians across the South cracked down on the black population with Jim Crow laws, Mississippi inserted into its constitution an unusually high bar for getting elected governor or winning any other state office.
The provision, which remains in force to this day, says candidates must win not only a majority of the popular vote – that is, more than 50% – but also a majority of the state’s 122 House districts.
On Thursday, more than a century later, four black Mississippians sued in federal court to put an end to what they say is a racially discriminatory system, unique in the U.S. and deliberately aimed at thwarting the election of African Africans.
“The scheme has its basis in racism – an 1890 post-Reconstruction attempt to keep African Americans out of statewide office,” said former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, the first black person to hold that position. He added: “In the 21st century, it’s finally time to say that this provision should be struck down.”
Holder is chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, whose affiliated foundation is providing financial and legal backing for the lawsuit.