The Mississippi Supreme Court on Thursday rejected state Sen. Chris McDaniel’s (R) petition filed against the Harrison County clerk in order to gain access to all election records from the U.S. Senate primary runoff. McDaniel demanded “access to and full examination of all the original election materials,” including poll books. The Mississippi Attorney General and Harrison County Circuit Clerk Gayle Parker argued that a candidate’s right to review election records does not include poll books. Judge Josiah Coleman wrote in the court’s opinion that the clerk did not need to include poll books in election boxes for candidate review.
The McDaniel campaign claims that Sen. Thad Cochran (R) won the runoff election with votes from African-Americans and Democrats. They have been reviewing election records looking for “irregularities” indicating that Democrats illegally voted in two primaries.
The campaign has yet to file a formal challenge to the election results, but has filed lawsuits demanding access to poll records.
Read the court order: Mississippi Supreme Court Order On McDaniel Petition
Full Article: Miss. Supreme Court Rejects McDaniel Petition To Review Poll Books.