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 complained relentlessly about Mississippi’s election process, the one he has a hand in regulating as chairman of the Mississippi Senate Elections Committee.

From the beginning, the McDaniel camp tried to make the claim that 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 intentionally screwed up to skew the vote. When Pete Perry, Hinds County GOP Chairman, said that poll workers 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 “evidence.”

The McDaniel camp blamed racial messaging. They blamed Democrats.

At more bizarre times, they involved a California blogger in the madness and even 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 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 refused to hear the case.

Then, when the challenge finally reached the courts, it was 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.

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2014/aug/29/18623/

Democratic nominee for U.S. Senator Travis Childers responded to Judge Hollis McGehee's decision to dismiss Sen. Chris McDaniel's lawsuit challenging the election results of the Republican run-off for U.S. Senator. Childers looks forward to debating Cochran on issues including the minimum wage and equal pay.

JACKSON, Miss. — I congratulate Senator Cochran on his win today in court. The allegations of the past couple months have raised serious questions about the electoral process, and I strongly believe we must ensure that every vote in Mississippi counts. With the Republican primary finally nearing the end, it is time for Senator Cochran to focus on the issues of today and spell out his vision for the future. I look forward to a spirited discussion and debates about the issues that affect millions of Mississippians.

The senator and I differ on increasing the minimum wage. I believe the minimum wage should be a living wage. We differ on demanding equal pay for women. If a woman does the same job as a man she should be paid the same and not 76 cents on the dollar, which is the current average. Women are the heads of many Mississippi households and co-bread winners in many others. Women pay the same for milk, gas and child care as a man and it's only right they be paid equally. These are just two of the many issues we must debate in the next 10 weeks.

Mississippians deserve no less.