NATCHEZ — Attorneys for the NAACP filed notice June 7 of plans to take a lawsuit attempting to halt state elections to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The appeal notice was filed by the state chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People against Gov. Haley Barbour and the three judge panel E. Grady Jolly, Tom S. Lee and Louis Guirola Jr., who ruled May 16 against the NAACP to allow elections to proceed.

According to a federal court docket, Mississippi’s Southern District Court sent a letter June 8 to the clerk’s office for the U.S. Supreme Court with a copy of the notice and a docket sheet.

The lawsuit seeks to block elections this year using the existing boundaries in the 122 state House districts and 52 state Senate districts.

The suit argues that the current districts — which have been used for the past decade — are unbalanced by population and violate the one-person, one-vote principle.

The panel of judges refused to grant a preliminary injunction for upcoming elections and gave the legislature another year to redistrict.

The candidate qualifying deadline was June 1. Party primaries are Aug. 2. The general election is Nov. 8.

Mississippi’s Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann issued a statement saying elections will proceed.

“I continue to believe the State Constitution has provided a road map for redistricting,” Hosemann said.

“When we lose that road map, we lose our direction as a state and as a nation. Therefore, I will proceed with the upcoming elections as planned, unless otherwise ordered by the United States Supreme Court.”