Some rumors today to the effect that McDaniel is having trouble finding lawyers.
If a lawsuit is actually filed, I expect the basis will be that a number of voters in the runoff were ineligible because they had previously voted in the Democratic primary. If that happened, it should be relatively easy to prove. Compare the Dem voter roll from the primary with the GOP voter roll from the runoff, and any duplicates would be ineligible voters.
Assuming significant numbers of ineligible voters are found, the problem becomes how to remedy the situation. The obvious solution there seems to be a do over–but that poses logistical issues and financial burdens on every county in the state, as well as on both campaigns.
I think McDaniel is facing a lose-lose scenario here. He’s unlikely to prevail in a legal challenge, and even if he does, he’s burned his bridges with the mainstream GOP, and pissed off a significant number of voters in the process. Nobody outside of his campaign really wants to deal with the flood of advertising and other shenanigans to redo the election. McDaniel should go ahead and concede already…
That’s true. I think there is a real chance of a formal schism in the GOP, with the Tea Party becoming a quasi-legitimate third party, which could make things really interesting over the next few years.
A statement released by the Mississippi Secretary of State:
*Statement regarding Lawsuit and Primary Runoff Election
In response to the litigation against the State of Mississippi, the Secretary of State’s Office has not violated any federal or State laws and should be immediately dismissed from this litigation. Every citizen should anticipate this Agency will follow scrupulously Mississippi law, as enacted by Mississippi citizens through its legislative process.
Those include:
In the event the Secretary of State’s Office is made aware of any person voting in both a Democratic Primary and a Republican primary, those individuals’ names will be forwarded to the District Attorney and Attorney General for whatever prosecutorial action they deem appropriate.
The Secretary of State’s Office possesses no pollbooks from either the June 3rd Primary Election or the June 24th Primary Runoff Election. We support full disclosure of pollbooks to the public in accordance with Mississippi law.
The Secretary of State’s Office has committed no violation of the National Voter Registration Act and will not. This Agency followed federal and state law in implementing Voter ID and will continue to follow all voting laws.
The Secretary of State’s Office requested a change in the law to require our Agency to report on Mississippi elections to the public and Legislature. As required by the State Legislature, this Office issues Election Day Reports for all elections in Mississippi. The public should anticipate a report for the June 24th Primary Runoff Election.
Party Primary Elections are the responsibility of the Party, not the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State’s Office does not certify primary election results. The Secretary of State only receives certified results from the party in order to prepare the General Election ballot.*
As for who gets the blame, it depends on who you ask. McDaniel supporters are well and truly pissed off, and appear to blame pretty much everybody that isn’t “one of them”–which has some really uncomfortable connotations.
The Cochran camp is starting to get exasperated…and perhaps a little worried. They want this whole thing to go away yesterday, and they are not getting that. They’re in a tough spot–going after McDaniel risks pouring gas on the fire, but ignoring his open accusations of election stealing could hurt them. They have no ability to communicate any sort of message right now–all the news is on the “controversy”.
OK, election law is not really my thing, so can someone explain to me how the hell a guy that lives in Alabama has standing to challenge a Mississippi election?
The “Complaint” was filed with the Mississippi Secretary of State, not in court. Apparently anyone can file an allegation with the SOS’ office using this form. Looks like the AG’s office takes it from there so McCutcheon wouldn’t actually be a party.
McDaniel lost a critical ruling in the Mississippi Supreme Court today. He’s been seeking the unredacted poll books to bolster his claims of fraud in the runoff election. The Court said nope. He’s filing a petition for rehearing en banc, which probably won’t go much better for him.
The Mississippi GOP effectively told McDaniel to go fuck himself but with more polite wording. They refused to hear his challenge because of timing issues, told him to take it to court.
From a practical perspective, you can stick a fork in him, he’s done. I doubt a court would have time to rule on the merits before the general election in November, if his case survives a motion to dismiss. Even if a there was a ruling on the merits in his favor, there would be an appeal, and I really don’t think any court is likely to issue an injunction to stop the general election pending appellate review.
McDaniel’s challenge was dismissed as being untimely filed. the dismissal is without prejudice, so he can continue grasping at straws if he chooses. I suppose he could also appeal to the MS Supreme Court. Doubt it matters. He’s forked.