50% Off! Beat the market in 2025 with InvestingProCLAIM SALE

Mississippi Senate hopeful lists own lawyer's vote as tainted

Published 08/12/2014, 08:18 PM
Updated 08/12/2014, 08:20 PM
Mississippi Senate hopeful lists own lawyer's vote as tainted

By Emily Le Coz

JACKSON Miss. (Reuters) - The Tea Party-backed U.S. Senate candidate in Mississippi challenging his loss in the June Republican primary has moved to have his own lawyer's vote in the election stricken on the grounds that it was tainted by a poll worker.

Chris McDaniel, the challenger, lost in a runoff to incumbent Thad Cochran by some 7,700 votes, but said in a challenge filed last week that thousands of irregular or illegal votes were cast and that the result should be overturned.

The state Republican Party declined to hear the case, leaving him the option of taking the matter to court.

McDaniel attorney Mitch Tyner's name appeared on a list of irregular votes filed as an addendum to the complaint. Also listed was his wife, Sloane Tyner.

The pair voted in the Jackson suburb of Madison, where McDaniel's camp maintains that improper writing in the poll book, in which voter records are kept, effectively invalidated dozens of votes.

"We turned every single page and every single page had lines through it, lines crossed through names, had words written outside the columns," said McDaniel campaign spokesman Noel Fritsch, who added that he personally reviewed the book in question.

McDaniel says some 15,000 ballots were illegally or improperly cast in the runoff, many of them by people ineligible by virtue of having voted in the June 3 Democratic primary.

Jordan Russell, spokesman for the Cochran campaign, said the inclusion of McDaniel's lawyer on the candidate's list of invalid voters underlines the flimsy nature of the challenge.

"This is the perfect example of the lack of seriousness in this challenge, which is clearly just a political stunt," he said.

Tyner did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

(Editing by Jonathan Kaminsky and Eric Walsh)

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.