January 23, 2016

Mississippi GOP: If You Don't Win It, Steal It!

Mississippi GOP: If You Don't Win It, Steal It!

"Incumbent Democrat Blaine Eaton ran against Republican Mark Tullos. It was a close race. So close, in fact, that the certified results yielded a tie -- each candidate had 4,589 votes. Under Mississippi law, a tie is broken by drawing straws. Yes, I know. It's a bizarre way to settle a tie, but there it is. Eaton drew the long straw, and that's where the story should have ended. But this is a Republican state, and it's governed by greedy Republicans. (As an aside, it's also one of the poorest states in the Union. Is there a correlation there?) They wanted their supermajority, and by God, they were going to get it. On Tuesday, the Republican majority tossed out five provisional ballots in an election where the counts had already been certified in order to award the seat to Mark Tullos and complete their supermajority."