JACKSON, Miss.–In the race for U.S. Senate, as of Tuesday three names will appear on the ballot, and they do not include state Sen. Chris McDaniel. The state election commission is moving forward with Thad Cochran as the Republican candidate.
Also on the ballot are Democrat Travis Childers and Independent Shawn O’Hara.
The commission said it cannot wait because ballots must go out to U.S. military personnel overseas by Sept. 20.
“We have to have a ballot here in time for people to absentee vote. For our military overseas, we have to have those ballots here on time to get to them, so that they can vote in time for the November election,” election commission Chairman Jeff Tate told WTOK-TV.
He said that if the outcome in court is that McDaniel will be the candidate, then there may be a revision.
“If anything changes, then we would go by what the judge then orders us to do,” he said. “But until we get that ruling, we’re moving ahead as usual with the election.”
Meanwhile, a hearing is set for Thursday in Jones County where the judge could dismiss the McDaniel case. Cochran’s camp said in a motion to dismiss that McDaniel’s camp waited too long to file the challenge. McDaniel’s lawyers said the law that Cochran’s lawyers are citing is out of date.
