Are they breaking the law to save Thad Cochran in Mississippi?!
I can't believe this is even an issue, but we have a Republican courting Democrat voters in a Republican primary run-off!
If the contrast between conservative Chris McDaniel and establishment 42 year incumbant Thad Cochran was not clear before, there is no doubt now.
by Matthew Boyle
18 Jun 2014, 9:30 AM PDT
JACKSON, Mississippi — Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) is appealing to Democratic voters to cross party lines and vote in an upcoming runoff election against his conservative challenger, state senator Chris McDaniel. But a noted election law expert says that may be illegal.
J. Christian Adams, a former Civil Rights Division attorney at the Department of Justice with experience litigating election law cases in Mississippi, said a law there prevents people from voting in the primary for candidates they don't plan to support in the general election.
Adams is now a high-profile author and news commentator for conservative outlet PJ Media. He resigned his position at the U.S. Department of Justice in 2010 over how the Obama administration treated a famous case against the New Black Panther Party for alleged voter intimidation at the polls in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The Mississippi law Adams cites, MS Code 23-15-575, states: “No person shall be eligible to participate in any primary election unless he intends to support the nominations made in which he participates.”
“Mississippi law prohibits Democrats from voting in a Republican primary,” Adams said in an emailed statement. “Obviously poll workers aren’t mind readers. But if someone doesn’t intend to support the nominee in November, then that person isn’t allowed to vote in the Republican primary.”
In addition, the state Democratic Party sued Gov. Haley Barbour and others in the mid-2000s regarding just that matter—prompting United States District Judge W. Allen Pepper to write in a June 8, 2007, opinion that it is the responsibility and right of the political party holding a primary election to ensure that the elections are fair and legal. In the case of a Republican primary and runoff, only Republicans vote, and in the case of a Democrat primary and runoff, only Democrats vote—and it is the role of the political parties to ensure that process is handled correctly.
The Supreme Court determined in a 2005 case that the First Amendment “protects the right of political parties to associate with fellow members and disassociate with non-members,” Judge Pepper wrote in his opinion. So technically it’s the party’s responsibility—i.e., in this case, state GOP chairman Joe Nosef’s responsibility—to protect GOP voters’ First Amendment rights by working to keep Democrats from voting in the GOP primary runoff.
Catherine Engelbrecht, the head of national conservative election integrity organization True the Vote, told Breitbart News she thinks Nosef must step up and enforce these laws. Engelbrecht and her organization are in Mississippi right now, preparing for the election with poll watchers from around the country to work to prevent any shenanigans on election day next week.
“Chairman Nosef must understand that this matter is not playing out in an echo chamber; people across the country are now suspicious...
Excerpt, read more at Breitbart
I wish it wasn't true, but Senator Thad Cochran supporters are trying to steal this election. We cannot let this blatant effort to steal the election go unanswered! We cannot let the slick Washingtn, D.C. Republican operatives and the Democrats get away with this and need your immediate support.
