Deputies want to know why Tea Partiers got locked in MS courthouse where ballots counted

By Travis Gettys
Thursday, June 5, 2014 8:56 EDT

Authorities in Mississippi are trying to determine how three Tea Party officials wound up locked inside a courthouse hours after ballots were counted in an extremely tight Republican primary election.

Incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran and state Sen. Chris McDaniel will face off in a runoff election later this month after both candidates fell short of the 50 percent needed for victory.

The Tea Party challenger McDaniel received about 1,400 more votes than his rival.

But one of his top aides and two others associated with McDaniel’s campaign are under investigation by the Hinds County sheriff’s department after they were found locked inside the courthouse where votes were counted.