JACKSON, Miss.- With hopes of having the evidence and election results in today, McDaniel’s campaign lawyers took the stand at a press conference held outside Mitch Tyner’s law office Wednesday to explain what they have found up until this point.
“We have found a lot,” said Tyner, but they need more time to look over ballot boxes and poll books. They have not filed an official election challenge yet, but say they have enough evidence to do so and that the challenge should come within the next ten days.
Certified results show six-term U.S. Senator Thad Cochran won by 7,667 votes, or 51 percent in the June 24 Republican runoff election.
McDaniel did not show up for the press conference in Jackson Wednesday.
“This is not a challenge right now,” said state Sen. Michael Watson, one of the attorneys representing McDaniel. “It’s a full examination of election materials. It’s a look under the hood of the election process in Mississippi.”
Watson and Tyner both said candidates have the right to review the election results and should not be charged to do it.
Mississippi voters don’t register by party, but it is against state law to vote in one party’s primary and another party’s runoff in the same cycle. McDaniel claims voters cast ballots in both the Democratic primary and the Republican runoff, which is against the law.
The Cochran campaign said there might have been hundreds of improper votes, but not enough to overturn the election.
McDaniel would have to prove there were enough illegally cast votes to change the outcome or that the election was so sloppily handled its result is in doubt.
