Therese Apel, and Jimmie E. Gates

The Clarion-Ledger

The Hinds County Sheriff's Department has concluded no criminal activity took place when three people, including a staffer for state Sen. Chris McDaniel's U.S. Senate campaign, ended up locked inside the county courthouse hours after everyone had left following the counting of votes from Tuesday's primaries.

Scott Brewster, Janis Lane and Rob Chambers were found locked inside the courthouse early Wednesday. They allegedly entered sometime shortly after 2 a.m. and, after realizing they were locked in, called for help.

A member of the Hinds County Board of Supervisors is questioning the three being alone in the building.

"There is not a circumstance where any individual that doesn't work for the county should be in a county building not accompanied by a county employee after hours," said District 1 Supervisor Robert Graham. "Specifically, not accompanied by an election commissioner on election night. If you're in the building and you have to do with elections, you should be with a commissioner."

The situation took on added significance because of the hotly contested U.S. Senate Republican primary pitting McDaniel against incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran. McDaniel led Cochran statewide by a slim margin, but in Hinds County, Cochran held a 2-1 margin over McDaniel. The two will face off in a June 24 runoff.

Brewster is McDaniel's campaign coalition coordinator. Lane is president of the board of the Central Mississippi Tea Party. And Chambers is a consultant with the Mississippi Baptist Christian Action Commission.

"Our investigation revealed that the three individuals were able to enter the courthouse through a side door marked for employees only," Sheriff's Department spokesman Othor Cain said Thursday afternoon in a statement. "This door was either propped open or was malfunctioning at the time of entry."

Cain said the three had access only to the common areas of the courthouse, including the hallways and restrooms.

"Based on our findings, the door in question closed behind them upon entry and they proceeded to look for individuals that were counting ballots in an effort to assist. After not finding anyone in the building it is then they called for assistance to get out," the statement said.

Ballot counting had ended for the night, and everyone left the courthouse approximately three hours before the trio was locked in.

The Sheriff's Department refuted earlier statements by the McDaniel camp that "uniformed personnel" let the three into the building.

Brewster, Lane and Chambers didn't respond to requests for comment by The Clarion-Ledger.

"The McDaniel campaign, they seem to always be on the wrong side of a door," said former Gov. Haley Barbour. "Have you ever heard of a group of people who were in places they weren't supposed to be more often?"

Barbour referred to the recent controversy in which conservative blogger Clayton Kelly allegedly went uninvited into a nursing home in Madison and took photos of Cochran's bedridden wife, Rose.

Kelly and three others have been charged in that case.

McDaniel said his campaign had no role in taking photos of Cochran's wife. There are no allegations that McDaniel's campaign had prior knowledge of plans for the photo to be taken.

In the courthouse incident, Cain had said inconsistencies in statements given by Lane, Chambers and Brewster led to the opening of the investigation late Wednesday.

The Sheriff's Department works security for the courthouse, but only during business hours, Cain said. During an election, the election commission hires off-duty deputies to work security, but at the time Lane, Brewster and Chambers allegedly entered the courthouse, all security staff would have been gone.

On Thursday, Hinds County Board of Supervisors President Darrel McQuirter sent a letter to Sheriff Tyrone Lewis thanking him for the quick action in launching an investigation. McQuirter asked the Sheriff's Department to provide the board with updates and a final report on the findings of the investigation.

"Without the benefits of all the facts, we consider the events that have reportedly transpired in this past election process to be a potential breech in protocol," McQuirter said. "This is a great concern for the board. Incidents such as these could compromise the integrity and validity of the Hinds County election process tremendously."

Hinds County Circuit Clerk Barbara Dunn says it would be virtually impossible to tamper with ballots after they make it to her office.

All ballots, including absentee ballots, were placed in a vault in her office, which was locked when everyone left between 11 and 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dunn said.

"It would be very hard for anyone to get into my vault," Dunn said. "And I have an alarm system that is turned on that would make a loud sound if anyone opens the vault."

Precinct boxes containing pencils and pens, but no ballots, would have been the only things left unsecured in the hallways of the courthouse, Dunn said.

Cain said there are attorneys and courthouse employees with access to the courthouse but they are not "uniformed personnel."

Cochran spokesman Jordan Russell said he thinks the situation shows a pattern of behavior with the McDaniel campaign.

"I think Mississippi voters need to take a step back from the situation and ask themselves a question: Is this the kind of person that we want to represent our party on the national stage?" Russell said.

The Clarion-Ledger contacted McDaniel spokesman Noel Fritsch, but he had not issued a response to Russell's comments.

Contact Therese Apel at (601) 961-7236 or tapel@gannett.com. Contact Jimmie E. Gates at (601) 961-7212 or jgates@jackson.gannett.com. Follow @TRex21 and @jgatesnews on Twitter.