Tea Party ‘True The Vote’ Group Sues To Inspect Mississippi Poll Books

Supporters of second-term state Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, hoist campaign signs as he announces his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 2014, during a rally at the Jones County Courthouse in Ellisville, Miss., T... Supporters of second-term state Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, hoist campaign signs as he announces his candidacy for the U.S. Senate in 2014, during a rally at the Jones County Courthouse in Ellisville, Miss., Thursday, Oct. 17, 2013. His decision to run will likely pit him against longtime incumbent Republican U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran in the Republican primary. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

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.

Latest Livewire

Notable Replies

  1. When the facts don’t fit your narrative, you have to change the facts or you risk changing your narrative.

  2. The poll lists are open for review at any time as long as you follow all FOIA rules. BUT you can’t monkey around with them to fit the BS you want to sell. No erasures, no “corrections”. The voting data has been pulled from the machines (PEBs and Flash Cards), so no help there. Just more whining from the beaten baggernuts.

  3. Are these racist dicks still around?

  4. Unskew the votes. We want to make certain that peoples really knows who they were votin’ fer. Acourse we’d focus on those of lesser intelegence, if ya knows what we’s means.

  5. Avatar for jw1 jw1 says:

    Catherine Engelbrecht is a failed local HouTX pol.
    IIRC she ran unsuccessfully for Bugman Tom Delay’s House seat some years back.

    Failing that she opened a ® Grift Shop-- known as True The Vote.

    jw1

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

42 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for publishermike Avatar for ajm Avatar for austin_dave Avatar for blue_bear Avatar for jw1 Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for meri Avatar for snig Avatar for braxtonbraggart Avatar for tallyjohnson Avatar for trumpdog Avatar for wanderer Avatar for sylhines Avatar for just2stressed Avatar for ottnott Avatar for jasperblack Avatar for snarkus_aurelius Avatar for captaincommonsense Avatar for khaaannn Avatar for wrightwingnut Avatar for thunderclapnewman Avatar for jinmichigan Avatar for jviscont1

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: