Chris McDaniel: Democratic Votes for Sen. Thad Cochran Were 'Illegal'
Source: CBS News-5 hours ago
State Sen. Chris McDaniel, who lost to incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran in a runoff election for the Mississippi Senate Republican primary, alleges that Democrats who helped Cochran win the election Tuesday night broke the law by casting votes for a candidate they won't support in the general election.
"We have a statute, a law in our state that says you cannot participate in a primary unless you intend to support that primary winner in the general. [Democrats who voted for McDaniels] have no intention to do that, they'll be voting for [Democratic nominee] Travis Childers in November. We know that, they know that, and so that makes their actions illegal," McDaniel told conservative radio host Mark Levin Tuesday. "We're going to be fighting this."
Mississippi law allowed anyone who did not cast a Democratic ballot on June 3 to cast a Republican runoff ballot, the Associated Press reported. McDaniel and his supporters previously cited a defunct Mississippi law - effectively invalidated by the courts - that requires primary voters to support a party's nominee in November. That would bar Democrats from supporting Cochran, the McDaniel camp argued. Mississippi elections officials confirmed before polls opened that the law is functionally unenforceable, according to the AP. McDaniel also suggested in the radio interview that some of McDaniel's Democratic supporters voted in the Democratic primary before voting in the Republican runoff.
"We haven't conceded, we're not going to concede right now, we're going to investigate," McDaniel said, though headmitted it can be difficult to challenge an election. He announced on Tuesday that his team would be examining "irregularities" in the results to determine whether to mount a challenge. He promised to "root out this corruption" in Mississippi, accusing the Cochran campaign of paying people to vote and insisting he would have won by a landslide if Democrats had not supported the incumbent.
Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/chris-mcdaniel-democratic-votes-for-thad-cochran-were-illegal/
alsame
(7,784 posts)iandhr
(6,852 posts)McDaniel starts a write in campaign and it would be enough to swing the vote to Childers.
JoePhilly
(27,787 posts)First Democrats vote for Cochran to hurt McDaniel in the primary. Then they help McDaniel put together a write-in campaign to hurt Cochran in the general.
That would be hilarious.
AAO
(3,300 posts)0rganism
(23,930 posts)AAO
(3,300 posts)arcane1
(38,613 posts)Let's look forward and all that.
Renew Deal
(81,847 posts)Good luck finding the Democratic Cochran voters and questioning them.
big_dog
(4,144 posts)lolz
Dawson Leery
(19,348 posts)TygrBright
(20,755 posts)Throw a little cash at it, put up highly visible "Write In McDaniels" signs in useful places, alla that.
Then vote their consciences.
G'wan.... you know you want to...
amusedly,
Bright
Ferretherder
(1,445 posts)And I totally agree! We (Democrats) need to help this shitbag, um, guy out with his write-in campaign.
lexx21
(321 posts)to PROVE voter intent? It would seem that "law" is about as useful as lace on a bowling ball.
truebluegreen
(9,033 posts)But it does make for good tail-chasing behavior. Have at it, McDaniel!
Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts)How does he expect to enforce a law like that and maintain the integrity of a secret ballot?
I am not a big fan of open primaries. There is only one thing that would have helped him last week, namely, a closed primary. Unless Mr. McDaniel wanted to break into local government office buildings late at night and stuff ballot boxes. I don't suppose that would ever cross his mind. Surely neither Mr. McDaniel nor any member of his staff would ever be caught in a government office building right after an election where ballots are stored in the wee hours of the morning.
BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)I'm sure McDaniel's followers would totally miss your point.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)Bette Noir
(3,581 posts)He should have a beer with John McCain.
tomm2thumbs
(13,297 posts)and LOSE they did. Big time.
Somewhat ironic that they'd probably cheer if Democratic votes put Cantor out of business, eh?
Goes to show how hypocrisy is a one-way street in the Tea Bagger world.
tblue37
(65,227 posts)no ability to comprehend the laws they want to participate in shaping and enforcing. He must be a very ignorant man.
BillZBubb
(10,650 posts)QuestForSense
(653 posts)The whining is embarrassing for everyone.
blackspade
(10,056 posts)louis-t
(23,273 posts)leftynyc
(26,060 posts)ruled that law unenforceable in 2008
http://msbusiness.com/blog/2014/06/25/judge-tosses-lawsuit-crossover-voting-gop-runoff/
secondwind
(16,903 posts)Historic NY
(37,449 posts)it willl siphon off votes.
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)MS has a sore loser law. He could do a write in campaign and I think we should strongly encourage that.
Fred Gilmore
(80 posts)said every mean and disparaging thing that he could muster in an effort to motivate only white voters to vote for him, and he now has the unmitigated gall to call out those whom he so offended during the campaign, for voting for someone other than him.
He didn't want any minorities voting for him, yet he didn't want them voting for his opponent either. In his mind, only those voters to whom he appeals should be allowed to cast ballots.
It is pieces of shit such as him that give politicians such a bad name.
nyabingi
(1,145 posts)SansACause
(520 posts)From: http://yallpolitics.com/index.php/yp/post/38372/
In an interview by phone with Breitbart News late Tuesday evening after the McDaniel headquarters cleared out, state Democratic Party chairman Rickey Cole said McDaniel should challenge the election results. Clearly there was some sloppiness to say the least, and probably some failures to comply with the law, Cole told Breitbart News.
I listened to some of McDaniels speech, and in a race this close Im sure there are irregularities that ought to be looked into, Cole said. Ive been around a lot of close elections in my life. I think the candidate owes it to his supporters to make sure that everything was done on the up and up.
[snip]
Cole said the legal options by which McDaniel can proceed is he can request to inspect ballot boxes at any and every precinct statewidethere is no recount provisions in Mississippi election law. They or their representative can come inspect the contents of any box and make notes of any irregularities and once they compile whatever evidence they may have, then they present a challenge to the Republican State Executive Committee, Cole said. Then the Republican State Executive Committee would have to rule on it, and if either party was dissatisfied by the Republican State Executive Committee ruling you would appeal it to a circuit court and it would be heard de novo in the circuit courtwhich means the circuit court would look at everything the Republican executive committee did just so you dont have to start completely from the start.
Mr.Bill
(24,244 posts)will not tell anyone who voted for who, and it certainly will not tell you how they voted in the primary. Once that ballot is dropped in the box, it is anonymous, and the boxes are sealed from the time the poll opens until it closes.
Which is why the law that McDaniel is whining about was ruled unenforceable in 2008.
DallasNE
(7,402 posts)Vote for Cochran in November?
Nah, that is just wishful thinking. But I can dream.
Warpy
(111,166 posts)Whether it's enough of a split to put a Democrat in office is moot.
Chances are good we wouldn't like a Mississippi Democrat all that much, either. However, we can still dream.
Mr.Bill
(24,244 posts)when Rush Limbaugh called for people to do this to Hillary Clinton during the Democratic Presidential primaries?
Warpy
(111,166 posts)It's been done like this for many decades, almost since the country was founded.
If Mr. Crybaby doesn't think it's right, maybe he should petition his legislature to make future primaries closed. The problem there (and the repubs know it) is that his party has used open primaries to defeat strong Democrats.
He's just unhappy because Democrats used it to defeat a crazy Republican.
IowaGuy
(778 posts)TheBlackAdder
(28,167 posts)TheBlackAdder
(28,167 posts)jaysunb
(11,856 posts)right to vote. That's who they were Mr. McDaniel
nytemare
(10,888 posts)abakan
(1,815 posts)all the votes that were not for me, are illegal. Nice democracy you got there, Mr. McDaniel.
Alex P Notkeaton
(309 posts)But Chris McDoofus probably believes that black people voting at all should be illegal. Good riddance to him!
deminks
(11,014 posts)he thinks he lost cause black people voted in a Republican primary.
Quelle idiot!
Blue Idaho
(5,038 posts)Prove It!
rustbeltvoice
(429 posts)Instead of taking a chance, and sitting this out, black voters came to vote against the danger of McDaniel. McDaniel is not a genius (1--Republican, 2--teabagger), but he understood why he lost, and being what he is, graciousness is not there...
http://rustbeltvoice.blogspot.com/2014/06/o-please-please-please.html
IronLionZion
(45,380 posts)and his supporters should just boycott the november election on principle.
He should challenge every vote in every precinct. Definitely challenge the "intent" of these voters by using mind reading methods and the thought police. Or he could always use the color of their skin, their gender, or other demographic identifiers to target those who voted against him. And punish the white male establishment types too since they are traitors.
Just heap a lot of bile and bitterness and negativity, just make sure to draw it out through November and spend tons of money doing so. Real tea party patriots are not quitters, right?
Arkana
(24,347 posts)People were free to vote if they wished, for whoever they wanted, regardless of political affiliation.
McDaniel looks foolish flailing around like this.