Trial likely to be in September for McDaniel challenge.

Sept. trial likely for Miss. election challenge

A judge presiding over a lawsuit that challenges Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran’s victory in a Republican primary runoff says he intends to finish the case before the November general election. But the judge is not blocking election preparation, including printing of absentee ballots for overseas military voters.

During a status conference Wednesday in the Jones County Courthouse, retired Chancellor Hollis McGehee of Lucedale acknowledged he’ll be asked to consider a lot of information on a tight timeframe.

“None of us are aware of a statewide election contest that has been tried before,” McGehee told about 50 spectators.

In a lawsuit filed last week in his home of Jones County, state Sen. Chris McDaniel demands that a judge declare him the Republican nominee or order a new runoff between him and Cochran. The Supreme Court assigned the case to McGehee, who was a judge from 1995 to 2005 in a different part of the state.