The federal system gives each state the number of electoral vote totals for its senators and U.S. House member. A presidential candidate must win the state in order to receive those electoral votes. In reality, the national popular vote total does not determine who is elected president. Sometimes, the federal electoral system has been criticised as undemocratic and outdated. Two presidents have been elected since the turn of century — George W. Bush 2000 and Donald Trump 2016 — after winning the popular vote and the required votes in the Electoral College. As part of the 1890 Constitution, Mississippi’s efforts to ensure that African Americans, who were then the majority in the state, are not elected to statewide office, the Mississippi system faces challenges. The state system requires that the candidate for the statewide office does not win a majority vote or receive the most votes from a majority in any of the 122 House districts. Members of the House then choose the winner from among the top two vote-getters. Mississippi is the only country where a candidate can win 50 percent plus one and still win a state office. Federal court is currently challenging the system on grounds that it dilutes black voter power. Three Republican candidates for governor are this year: Lt. Governor, Tate Reeves of Rankin County, and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Bill Waller of Jackson. Tate Reeves, former chief justice of the state Supreme Court Bill Waller of Jackson, and Robert Foster (female representative) declined to comment on whether they believed the person with the most votes should be elected. Foster, of DeSoto County said that there was no comment at the moment. “I need to look into this more,” Waller of Jackson said. “As a potential State Election Commissioner, it would not be appropriate to discuss pending litigation which could continue into next year.” The state Election Commission is composed of the governor, attorney General, and secretary of state. Houston’s Attorney General Jim Hood, the only Democrat elected in the state, stated that the candidate with the highest number of votes should win. Every Mississippian should vote. Every Mississippian’s vote should count. Parker Briden was a spokesman of Reeves. He was referring to the fact that a group headed by Eric Holder, former U.S. attorney general, filed a lawsuit in the Southern District of Mississippi asking for the removal of provisions of the Mississippi state Constitution that would permit the House to choose the governor. This violated the U.S. Constitution’s one man, one vote principle. Briden stated that Tate will win the most votes and (House) district elections as required by the Constitution. “All candidates for governor must agree that Eric Holder and Barack Obama don’t have to file lawsuits to change any part of the Constitution. Any Mississippian can amend our Constitution through a voter initiative. This is a decision for Mississippians, not Washington liberals.” The lawsuit was filed for four Mississippi voters. Holder chairs the National Redistricting Foundation and the Mississippi Center for Justice. Holder was the AG. Holder is not part of this lawsuit. Mississippi politicians have a history of criticizing outside agitators for trying to rollback Jim Crow laws. Many of these laws were part of the 1890 Constitution that was written to prohibit African Americans from voting and holding public office. This Constitution also allowed black Mississippians to attend inferior schools. At a 1961 news conference, the then-Gov. Ross Barnett said that he was responding to federal efforts to integrate Mississippi by saying: “Mississippi is certainly capable of handling its own problems, its affairs without any outside help.” He claimed that he spoke to Robert Kennedy, the U.S. Attorney General, and told him that Mississippians could uphold the Constitution and laws. Barnett stated that there is too much work in Mississippi to allow us to tolerate outside agitators trying stir up conflict and stirring up trouble among our people for no good cause whatsoever. The “Southern Manifesto”, which was signed by many of the U.S. senators from the South, criticized the “unwarranted exercise a naked judicial power” to try to grant civil rights to African Americans. It was also published in the 1960s. Briden was asked about his comments that sounded like those made by Mississippi politicians during the 1950s, 1960s, and later complaining about out of state groups working for African Americans to obtain civil rights. He replied, “Tate is solely focused on winning this election according to the Mississippi Constitution. Eric Holder’s lawsuit can be used to help other candidates who aren’t confident they will win the election. It’s that simple. Tate wasn’t alive in the 1960s. “He is leading Mississippi into the 21st Century. We don’t need national liberals telling us what we should do in the 21st Century. In the 1990s, there were three consecutive elections where neither the majority vote nor the most House districts went to a candidate. This year, a lawsuit was likely filed because a competitive November general elections for governor are expected for the first time since 2003.