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Civil Rights
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Cover
Leader of the PAC
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Black is the New Black: How Blacks Changed the GOP Game
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Editor's Note
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City & County
10 Local Stories of the Week
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Justices Rule Against McDaniel: Conceal Voters' Birthdates on Poll Books
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McDaniel Campaign Finds Enough Illegal Votes to Warrant Challenge
The campaign for state Sen. Chris McDaniel charged Wednesday that more illegal votes exist than Republican representatives like Pete Perry of Hinds County suggest.
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Politics
Black Dems Key for Pro-Cochran PAC
A super PAC that supports Republican U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran leaned heavily on well-known operatives in state Democratic politics.
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McDaniel Campaign Skeptical of Hinds Ineligible Vote Count, Pete Perry's Role
By AnnaWolfeThis morning Hinds County GOP Chairman Pete Perry told reporters that the runoff election between Sen. Thad Cochran and Sen. Chris McDaniel went smoothly and was conducted properly. He denied allegations that Hinds poll workers were denied poll books so that they could check to see if anyone had already voted Democratic in the initial primary on June 3, which would have made their vote ineligible.
These illegal crossover votes had been the topic of much discussion by the McDaniel campaign, who believed they’d find enough to challenge the results of the election.
Perry told reporters that Claude McInnis, who initially told Breitbart about the lack of access to poll books, lied. When asked about allegations of vote buying, as reported on GotNews.com, Perry said, “It’s time for them to put up or shut up.”
He said the McDaniel campaign would have to find proof of voter fraud and vote buying to move forward with those claims.
“I’m not aware of any vote buying,” Perry said.
Perry’s company, Paradigm Government Relations, was paid $60,000 by the pro-Cochran super PAC Mississippi Conservatives, started by Henry Barbour.
Still, Perry said he oversaw the examination of poll books and absentee ballots and that representatives from both campaigns only found roughly 350 ineligible votes.
McDaniel’s campaign plans to hold a press conference tomorrow to discuss the findings from their inspection of ballot boxes and how they plan to move forward in challenging the election results. McDaniel supporters are anxious to hear how he will respond to Perry’s statements that the campaign was conducted in accordance with the law.
Noel Fritsch, McDaniel campaign spokesperson, said:
"We hope that the fact Pete Perry was paid $60,000 by Thad Cochran's super PAC to move Democrat votes in Hinds County had nothing to do with the fraud he is alleged to have engaged in, but we're glad Pete has taken a sudden interest in the integrity of the election, and hope he helps Mississippians find the truth about whether he ordered precincts to allow ineligible Democrats to vote illegally on June 24th."
