Controversial N.C. Gov. McCrory demands recount in razor-thin race
RALEIGH, N.C. – Controversial Republican North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory is not waiting to see whether his Democratic opponent’s current lead in the governor’s race will hold to demand a recount.
McCrory’s campaign said it has filed for the recount in the race against Democrat Roy Cooper, even though votes are still being tallied.
McCrory’s campaign made the announcement Tuesday in a news release, reports CBS Raleigh affiliate WNCN reports.
“With many outstanding votes yet to be counted for the first time, legal challenges, ballot protests and voter fraud allegations, we must keep open the ability to allow the established recount process to ensure every legal vote is counted properly,” said Russell Peck, McCrory’s campaign manager.
Most counties have yet to complete their counts. McCrory’s campaign acknowledged the recount won’t happen until counties finish those tallies, but they wanted to ensure they didn’t miss a deadline under state law.
In response to McCrory’s challenge, the Cooper campaign said: “This is nothing but a last-ditch effort from Governor McCrory to delay and deny the results of this election...We are confident that a recount will do nothing to change the fact that Roy Cooper has won this election.”
Counties were originally supposed to finish their counts by Friday. Recount requests must normally be filed by the second business day after those county reviews. The counting process has been slowed by factors including Republican-led challenges.
The trailing candidate is entitled to a recount if he’s behind by fewer than 10,000 votes. Cooper led by more than 6,000 votes Tuesday afternoon.
A conservative group filed a lawsuit saying the state can’t finish tallying its close governor’s race until it verifies the residency of thousands of voters who used same-day registration.
The head of the Civitas Institute is asking a federal court to require that the state Board of Elections refrain from certifying election results until it has completed verification of same-day registrants.
North Carolina law allows people to register and cast a ballot on the same day during the early voting period by offering proof of their address.
The lawsuit says North Carolina law requires election officials to check the residency of same-day registrants by sending them mail and seeing if it comes back returned. Since state elections board guidelines indicate that 30 days should be allowed for the mailing process, the lawsuit says the overall tallying of votes can’t be finished before December 7.
About two dozen protesters gathered Tuesday outside the entrance of a building hosting the latest State Board of Elections hearing on contested ballots.
The hearing started promptly at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Although the board said it would not hear comments from the public during Tuesday’s meeting, the conference room was filled with spectators listening to the testimony.
