A spokesman says Chris McDaniel will file his legal challenge of the June 24 GOP primary he lost to incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran today in Jones County Circuit Court. Today is the deadline to file. McDaniel on Tuesday said his legal team has told him he has a “rock-solid” case to overturn the primary. His case includes affidavits from many volunteers listing what they claim are thousands of illegal or irregular votes. But Cochran lawyers and some election officials dispute these claims. They say McDaniel volunteers have found irregularities where none exist and that the election, which Cochran won by 7,667 votes, was fair and had no more problems than the human error involved in all elections. McDaniel’s first step was to file his challenge with the state Republican Party. But the party refused to hear the challenge, saying it’s too big a case for it to sort and that it should go straight to the courts.
Once he files a circuit court challenge, state Supreme Court Chief Justice William L. Waller Jr. will appoint a special judge, someone on “senior status” from outside the county where it was filed. That judge is allowed to choose the most convenient place to hear the case – many assume it will be in Hinds County or Jackson.
The court doesn’t have a deadline to decide the case, but state law urges primary challenges be resolved before ballots for the November general election are printed. Sample ballots are supposed to be delivered to county clerks by Sept. 10. Absentee ballots for the general are supposed to be available for military and others starting Sept. 20.
Full Article: UPDATED: McDaniel filing challenge in Jones County today.