Last week a retired chancery court judge settled the ongoing dispute among members of the Mississippi Republican Party — at least for now.

Special Judge Hollis McGehee, who now works mostly as a Methodist minister, tossed the election challenge of U.S. Senate candidate Chris McDaniel, a member of the tea party.

The lawsuit contended that the June 24 Republican party primary runoff should be done over or that McDaniel should be declared the winner over incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran.

When the votes were counted and certified, Cochran beat McDaniel by more than 7,600 votes. McDaniel’s camp has continually cried foul, suggesting that Cochran’s campaign lured support from Democrat voters — some of which had already voted in the Democrat primary, a violation of state law.

The lawsuit was thrown out because of the long delay in filing. The preacher-judge simply pointed to an old case precedent that suggested election appeals should be filed within 20 days of the election.

McDaniel’s challenge came 41 days after the election.

McDaniel’s campaign suggests they will announce Wednesday whether or not they will appeal the judge’s decision.

The law seems clear in this case and the judge’s decision seems sound.

Ultimately, we hope the Legislature will consider permanently fixing the situation that caused this by opening up Mississippi’s election laws to allow voters to cross party lines in any election and vote for candidates, not specific parties.