The tea party-aligned anti-voter fraud group True the Vote has filed a suit in federal court against the Mississippi secretary of State and the Mississippi Republican Party asking that records of the election results of the runoff election between Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) and state Sen. Chris McDaniel (R) be made available.
“All we are asking is that the MS State Republican Party follow the law; allow their designated county representatives to inspect the poll books and ballots, give them the review time they are permitted by law, and allow them to uphold their responsibility to MS voters,” True the Vote President Catherine Engelbrecht said in a statement on Tuesday. “True the Vote has been inundated with reports from voters across Mississippi who are outraged to see the integrity of this election being undermined so that politicos can get back to business as usual. Enough is enough.”
The group argues that it is nonpartisan but according to Pro Publica, mostly Republican lawmakers back True the Vote while groups that try and prevent disenfranchisement of minority voters oppose it. True the Vote has often aggressively pursued voter fraud even in areas where there is not much evidence of it. It has also argued for voter ID laws and purges of voter rolls. It has been accused of voter intimidation by poll watchers. The group, founded in 2009, was borne out of the tea party based King Street Patriots organization and has been closely linked with the tea party wave of 2010.
The suit by True the Vote is the latest example of McDaniel supporters calling for a review of the runoff election. McDaniel and his supporters argue that there was foul play involved by the Cochran campaign when it sought to win over Democratic and African-American voters to win the runoff.
McDaniel supporters are currently examining poll books to find examples of voters who cast a Democratic ballot on June 3 and a Republican ballot on June 24. They claim to have already found 1,500 “invalid” votes.
“True the Vote is concerned with maintaining the integrity of Mississippi’s election process,” McDaniel said in a statement. “The voters should be able to trust that the manner in which their elected officials are chosen is not compromised, and that the rule of law is adhered to. It is vital we be allowed to examine election data to make sure that happens.”
Read the complaint below:
232166906 True the Vote v Mississippi Complaint (1) by tpmdocs
(H/t: Rick Hasen)
This post was updated.
