Bryan Fischer
It ain't over in Mississippi
By Bryan Fischer
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
Evidence is emerging that there may be hundreds and perhaps thousands of improperly cast ballots in the runoff election in Mississippi between incumbent Thad Cochran and challenger Chris McDaniel.
Jim Hoft reports at Gateway Pundit that in Hinds County alone 800 ballots have been identified that may have been improperly cast for Cochran. And he provides the photographic evidence to support the claim.
Under Mississippi law, voters were allowed to vote in either the Democratic primary or Republican primary on June 3, but voters who participated in the Democratic primary were disallowed from voting in the June 24 Republican runoff.
Any Democrat who voted in the Democratic primary on June 3 was ineligible to vote for Sen. Cochran on June 24. Hoft reproduces photographs of the Hinds County Democratic roll book that clearly shows that some Democratic voters who voted on June 3 in the Democratic primary also voted on June 24. By law, no such votes should count.
McDaniel's camp has reason to suspect voter irregularities in at least 10 counties. Some of this may be malicious, and some of course may be inadvertent. Turnout in the afternoon and early evening was apparently quite high in some of these counties, Hinds in particular, and it's easy to imagine that poll workers may have gotten careless while trying to manage the crush.
Hoft also reports that Cochran's campaign is urging counties to delay certification of election results until the last possible moment to give McDaniel's camp as little time as possible to examine the poll books to determine whether an official legal challenge is warranted.
Establishment Republicans turned out 35,000 Democrat voters to pull the lever for Cochran. If just 20% of these ballots were improperly cast – not out of the realm of possibility – then a new election must be called.
In last year's mayoral race in Hattiesburg, a new election had to be called due to voter irregularities similar to what may have occurred here.
Cochran won because of Hinds County. Because of black voter turnout there, ginned up by fear-mongering and race-baiting ads and robocalls generated by Haley Barbour's Mississippi Conservatives PAC, Cochran won Hinds County by 11,000 votes, well over his margin of victory of 6,700.
The Daily Caller:
"A group that supported Republican Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran in his re-election bid against state senator Chris McDaniel paid a controversial political consultant $44,000 to conduct political phone calls.
"Henry Barbour, the head of Mississippi Conservatives PAC and the nephew of former Miss. Gov. Haley Barbour, confirmed for TheDC that the PAC paid Mitzi Bickers 'to make paid calls to potential Cochran supporters.'"
These robocalls, funded with establishment GOP money, painted fellow Republican McDaniel and the Tea Party as virtual knuckle-dragging racists and KKKers who would drag Mississippi back to the dark days of slavery.
Barbour declares his innocence in a way that makes him look negligent and careless at best, and grossly irresponsible at worst:
Barbour said he was not sure about the contents of Bickers' calls but denied that she was involved in those particular robo calls.
"She and I talked message for calls, but I never heard them," Barbour told TheDC.
While Barbour initially told TheDC that he thought that the robo calls were created by Bickers, he later said that she told him that she was not.
"Frankly, I thought it sounded like her voice, but she says not so," Barbour told TheDC.
Bottom line: anyone who cares about electoral integrity and the sanctity of the democratic process should call for a thorough and accurate review of the polling books in question. This election should not be officially certified until it is clear beyond reasonable suspicion that the people's choice has been identified.
The truth is that the GOP establishment has the greatest incentive here to see that the primary results are validated in the eyes of everyone. Their actions have generated a massive amount of ill will among grassroots conservatives, and if GOP poobahs want to disperse that cloud of anger and disgust, the time to begin is now with a thorough and transparent review that persuades all reasonable citizens that the will of the people has been done.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
June 27, 2014
Follow me on Twitter: @BryanJFischer, on Facebook at "Focal Point"
Evidence is emerging that there may be hundreds and perhaps thousands of improperly cast ballots in the runoff election in Mississippi between incumbent Thad Cochran and challenger Chris McDaniel.
Jim Hoft reports at Gateway Pundit that in Hinds County alone 800 ballots have been identified that may have been improperly cast for Cochran. And he provides the photographic evidence to support the claim.
Under Mississippi law, voters were allowed to vote in either the Democratic primary or Republican primary on June 3, but voters who participated in the Democratic primary were disallowed from voting in the June 24 Republican runoff.
Any Democrat who voted in the Democratic primary on June 3 was ineligible to vote for Sen. Cochran on June 24. Hoft reproduces photographs of the Hinds County Democratic roll book that clearly shows that some Democratic voters who voted on June 3 in the Democratic primary also voted on June 24. By law, no such votes should count.
McDaniel's camp has reason to suspect voter irregularities in at least 10 counties. Some of this may be malicious, and some of course may be inadvertent. Turnout in the afternoon and early evening was apparently quite high in some of these counties, Hinds in particular, and it's easy to imagine that poll workers may have gotten careless while trying to manage the crush.
Hoft also reports that Cochran's campaign is urging counties to delay certification of election results until the last possible moment to give McDaniel's camp as little time as possible to examine the poll books to determine whether an official legal challenge is warranted.
Establishment Republicans turned out 35,000 Democrat voters to pull the lever for Cochran. If just 20% of these ballots were improperly cast – not out of the realm of possibility – then a new election must be called.
In last year's mayoral race in Hattiesburg, a new election had to be called due to voter irregularities similar to what may have occurred here.
Cochran won because of Hinds County. Because of black voter turnout there, ginned up by fear-mongering and race-baiting ads and robocalls generated by Haley Barbour's Mississippi Conservatives PAC, Cochran won Hinds County by 11,000 votes, well over his margin of victory of 6,700.
The Daily Caller:
"A group that supported Republican Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran in his re-election bid against state senator Chris McDaniel paid a controversial political consultant $44,000 to conduct political phone calls.
"Henry Barbour, the head of Mississippi Conservatives PAC and the nephew of former Miss. Gov. Haley Barbour, confirmed for TheDC that the PAC paid Mitzi Bickers 'to make paid calls to potential Cochran supporters.'"
These robocalls, funded with establishment GOP money, painted fellow Republican McDaniel and the Tea Party as virtual knuckle-dragging racists and KKKers who would drag Mississippi back to the dark days of slavery.
Barbour declares his innocence in a way that makes him look negligent and careless at best, and grossly irresponsible at worst:
Barbour said he was not sure about the contents of Bickers' calls but denied that she was involved in those particular robo calls.
"She and I talked message for calls, but I never heard them," Barbour told TheDC.
While Barbour initially told TheDC that he thought that the robo calls were created by Bickers, he later said that she told him that she was not.
"Frankly, I thought it sounded like her voice, but she says not so," Barbour told TheDC.
Bottom line: anyone who cares about electoral integrity and the sanctity of the democratic process should call for a thorough and accurate review of the polling books in question. This election should not be officially certified until it is clear beyond reasonable suspicion that the people's choice has been identified.
The truth is that the GOP establishment has the greatest incentive here to see that the primary results are validated in the eyes of everyone. Their actions have generated a massive amount of ill will among grassroots conservatives, and if GOP poobahs want to disperse that cloud of anger and disgust, the time to begin is now with a thorough and transparent review that persuades all reasonable citizens that the will of the people has been done.
(Unless otherwise noted, the opinions expressed are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the views of the American Family Association or American Family Radio.)
© Bryan Fischer
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)
