Mississippi could drop Jim Crow-era statewide voting process

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — Mississippi just ditched its Confederate-themed state flag. The state’s voters will decide in November whether to dump an election process that dates to the Jim Crow era.

The state is facing pressure from a lawsuit and possible action from a federal judge. Legislators are putting a constitutional amendment on the ballot in November.

It would simplify elections for governor and other statewide officials by erasing an Electoral College-type provision from Mississippi’s 1890 constitution.

African American plaintiffs who sued the state last year argued that the election process with multiple steps was written to dilute Black voting power.