By Cathy Burke
An attorney for Mississippi Republican Senate runoff loser Chris McDaniel said Monday that there's evidence of election fraud that will overturn the contentious June 24 balloting – and could prompt a new election.
Mitch Tyner, an attorney for the state senator and a former Republican candidate for governor, said campaign canvassers started going through records at courthouses statewide, the Clarion-Ledger reports.
"[A]s we've gone through this process, we are surprised by the amount of evidence that continues to come forward that shows us there has indeed been election fraud in this case," Tyner said.
He also asserted that "the correct remedy is a new election," The Hill reported.
"I know there are several thousand that are absolute ineligible voters," Tyner said, adding that a clearer picture would emerge "later this week." He said the campaign was just beginning to look at the 19,000 absentee ballots and "we know that is very ripe for fraud."
Both McDaniel's campaign and that of incumbent Mississippi Republican Sen. Thad Cochran have been looking through poll books and other records.
But Jordan Russell, Cochran's spokesman, said the campaign has "been pleased with the results."
"The county-by-county results reported thus far are revealing an extremely low number of crossover votes from the June 24 election," he said.
"As the process moves forward, the conversation is shifting from wild, baseless accusations to hard facts. As we have said from the beginning, the runoff results are clear: the majority of Mississippians voted for Sen. Thad Cochran."
Cochran was declared the runoff winner by about 6,700 votes after finishing second in the first primary, with his runoff victory aided by the support of African-American Democratic voters.
But McDaniel's campaign accuses Cochran of stealing the race, and has been looking for evidence of voters who cast ballots in the Democratic primary and then switched over to vote in the GOP runoff, which is barred by state election law.
Last week, McDaniel offered up to 15 $1,000 rewards for people who provide information leading to a voter fraud arrest and conviction.
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