Jackson Free Press

“Justice has no timetable,” said State Sen. Chris McDaniel throughout the course of his challenge to U.S. Senate run-off election results against Sen. Thad Cochran. In the past two months, McDaniel has http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/jul/08/gop-primary-overnotover-mcdaniel-vows-challenge/">complained relentlessly about http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/aug/20/mississippi-primaries-open-or-not/">Mississippi’s election process, the one he has a hand in regulating as chairman of the Mississippi Senate Elections Committee.

http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/jul/07/mcdaniel-attorney-expects-find-6700-bad-votes/">From the beginning, the McDaniel camp tried to make the claim that http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/jul/16/mcdaniel-campaign-finds-enough-illegal-votes-warra/">so many “bad” votes were cast in the June 24 runoff between their guy and Cochran, that not only did they want Cochran’s win reversed, but they wanted McDaniel named the winner.

They made the claim that the use of election poll books was http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/jul/07/dem-head-hinds-gop-didnt-provide-poll-books-check-/">intentionally screwed up to http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/jul/10/hinds-election-commissioner-denies-destroying-runo/">skew the vote. When Pete Perry, Hinds County GOP Chairman, said that poll workers http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/jul/15/hinds-gop-chief-no-more-350-improper-votes-locally/">only found about one-fifth of the votes claimed to be invalid in Hinds County, the McDaniel camp said otherwise.

They compiled a binder of http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/aug/13/mcdaniel-challenge-more-questions-answers/">“evidence.”

The McDaniel camp http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/jul/16/black-dems-key-pro-cochran-pac/">blamed racial messaging. They blamed http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/aug/20/mississippi-primaries-open-or-not/">Democrats.

At more bizarre times, they involved a http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/aug/12/god-gave-us-charles-johnson-blogger-speaks-tea-par/">California blogger in the madness and even http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/aug/20/tyner-explains-irregular-vote-mcdaniel-lawyer-list/">named their own lawyer as one of those “bad” votes. When the attorney general’s office launched an investigation into the shady election happenings, the http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/aug/11/subpoena-names-mcdaniel-spokesman-tea-party-offici/">camp’s spokesman was named in said blogger’s subpoena (which ended up on Twitter).

The validity of the challenge was further challenged when the Republican Party http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/aug/08/mississippi-gop-wont-hear-challenge-cochran/">refused to hear the case.

Then, when the challenge finally reached the courts, it was http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2014/aug/29/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-challenging-cochran-win/">shut down before things could get even sillier. Justice may have no timetable in the eyes of McDaniel, but today the presiding judge dismissed the case because he took too long to file.

Of course, McDaniel could always appeal. After reporting on the developments of this story in the last few months, believe us, we’ll be expecting it.