The word ‘open’ primary to be clarified
Few Mississippians today — at a time they’re fed up with the seemingly endless Cochran-McDaniel Senate primary fiasco — know how dramatically close the state came in 1971 to having the “open primary” system installed in Mississippi elections.
Ever hear of a state law being left in “suspended animation” by a three-judge federal court panel?
Well, that’s what happened in January, 1971 to an open primary law passed by the 1970 Mississippi Legislature and signed by Gov. John Bell Williams.
It was sent up to the U.S. Justice Department for clearance under the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Jerris Leonard, then head of Justice’s civil rights division had responded in a somewhat ambiguous letter which state officials thought approved the Mississippi statute.
Desoto Times
10/8/14
Magnolia Tribune
