McDaniel challenge could require three more elections

LAUREL - Even with what one lawyer called "a rocket docket," the judge in Chris McDaniel's lawsuit challenging his loss to incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran expressed doubts whether a trial can be finished before the Nov. 4 general election.

Special Judge Hollis McGehee told lawyers for Chris McDaniel and Thad Cochran he feels compelled to quickly hold trial on McDaniel's challenge of his June 24 GOP Senate runoff to Cochran, but the case is complicated and unprecedented.

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The state Election Commission -- the governor, secretary of state and attorney general -- are set to meet Tuesday to approve a general election ballot. But McDaniel's team noted that even after a general election is held, if the primary is overturned or McDaniel declared the winner, another election would have to be held. So, potentially, the state could see three more U.S. Senate elections -- a general election held in November, then a new GOP primary held after that, then another general election.

McGehee, during the first hearing on McDaniel's lawsuit, said Wednesday he'll set a trial schedule by the end of the week. He said trial will likely begin Sept. 15 or Sept. 22. He said he originally planned to start it Sept. 30, but decided to move it up.

McGehee scheduled an Aug. 28 hearing on motions Cochran's lawyers plan to file to have the case dismissed.

"This is a completely unique proceeding," said McGehee, a retired Southwest Mississippi chancellor specially appointed to hear the case by the state Supreme Court. "None of us are aware of a complete statewide election challenge before ... We're trying to get our hands and our minds around the process and evidence that might come from ... all 82 counties."

State Sen. Chris McDaniel, in a GOP primary that pitted tea party conservatives against establishment Republicans on both the state and national level, narrowly defeated Cochran in a June 3 primary. But he failed to garner enough votes to avoid a runoff June 24, which Cochran won by 7,667 votes.

McDaniel claims the election was "stolen" from him through illegal and improper voting and black Democrats "raiding" a GOP primary because of Cochran race baiting and other skullduggery.

McDaniel claims to have found more than 15,000 illegal or questionable votes. He is asking the judge to declare him the winner of the GOP primary or, short of that, order a new primary. But Cochran lawyers and some election officials dispute these claims. They say McDaniel volunteers have found irregularities where none exist and that the election was fair and had no more problems than the human error involved in all elections.

McDaniel attorney Mitch Tyner on Wednesday said: "The goal is to make sure the will of Republican voters is done and make certain the correct candidate is on the (general) ballot. Obviously, we would prefer he just be declared the winner, but if the court decides on a new election, we would be happy to have that as well."

Cochran attorney Mark Garriga said: "We think this is the beginning of the end, and we look forward to Sen. Cochran being proclaimed and confirmed as the nominee of the Republican Party."

Neither McDaniel nor Cochran attended Wednesday's hearing at the Jones County Courthouse, only their lawyers. A crowd of about 15 McDaniel supporters -- some members of state tea party organizations -- were in the audience.

The Cochran campaign plans to file at least one motion to dismiss the case by Thursday. Garriga said an initial motion will be that the challenge is too late, and should have been filed within 20 days of the runoff, based on a ruling in a 1950s case. McDaniel's team says it faced no such deadline with the lawsuit.

McGehee said McDaniel's team has until Tuesday to respond to Cochran's initial "dispositive" motions, and then he'll hold a hearing on the pretrial motions on Aug. 28.

Tyner asked McGehee to order county clerks across Mississippi to preserve election materials from the June primaries. He also asked for an injunction to prevent Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann from printing ballots for the November general election, where either Cochran or McDaniel will face Democratic former U.S. Rep. Travis Childers. Tyner noted his request to hold off on ballots was partially political but "politics do matter."

Cochran's lawyers argued, and McGehee agreed, that Hosemann is not a party to the lawsuit and cannot be forced to delay printing of ballots. Sample ballots are scheduled to be delivered to counties Sept. 10, and overseas military and others are supposed to be allowed to have absentee ballots starting Sept. 20.

But although state law urges expediency in a primary challenge, the court faces no hard deadline, and could order a new primary even after a general election is held.

McGehee said he would send a message to county clerks asking them to preserve voting records while the case is litigated.

McGehee plans, at least for now, to hear the case in Jones County, McDaniel's home area. It will be a bench trial, with no jury.

Laura Van Overschelde, a McDaniel supporter and chair of the Mississippi TEA Party, watched the hearing Wednesday. She said the case will be landmark for Mississippians.

"I think it is incredibly important after what we've seen with irregularities in voting and lack of real protocol and procedures statewide," Van Overshelde said.