On a bleak election night for Democrats, North Carolina seemed to offer a consolation prize: the defeat of Gov. The passage of the so-called “bathroom bill” resulted in a country-wide backlash, including the National Basketball Association moving its all-star game in February.
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McCrory’s campaign has also filed a formal protest over 94,000 early voting ballots that were not reported until after an equipment failure late in the evening on Election Day. “He’s not going to be the next governor, whatever tactics his campaign comes up with”. Munn said absentee ballots are common in Bladen County because of “harassment and intimidation at the polls”. “It is clear that Gov. McCrory has no path to victory, and that Cooper’s margin of victory will only grow stronger as final vote totals continue to come in”. The clue, he said, was the number of ballots writing in a rival candidate’s name. “It’s time to certify these results and confirm Roy Cooper’s victory”, Cooper campaign spokesman Ford Porter said in a statement. Additionally, the State Bureau of Investigation is still engaged in a probe of an alleged mishandling of more than 1,000 provisional ballots in the county’s primary election in March.
The complaint drew a harsh rebuke from Cooper’s camp. There were no absentee ballots added during the meeting. A McCrory campaign news release alleges the ballots were supposed to help Cooper and other Democrats and show “close examination of this election is required to make sure the true victor of the election is properly determined”, campaign legal fund attorney Jason Torchinsky said. Pat McCrory by about 5,000 votes on election night Durham board chairman William Brian said Tuesday that a software glitch forced staffers to manually enter ballots cast before election day hours after polls closed November 8, and that’s why the early resulting results came in so late. McCrory’s camp says additional ballot protests are expected as additional cases are discovered. The governor is alleging votes were cast by dead people, convicted felons, and some people who had already voted. There’s people who have double-voted.
Democratic Supreme Court candidate Mike Morgan also unseated Bob Edmunds, the Republican incumbent, by nearly 10 points – one of election night’s big surprises.
Fox News reports officials in Bladen County have observed “overtly similar” handwriting on hundreds of absentee ballots for a separate local supervisor’s race, the victor of which filed a formal complaint.
Second, McCrory’s campaign has fumbled a series of challenges in the contended counties. While Republicans filed a lawsuit in federal court to challenge the new law, Cooper, then-Attorney General, defended it and the suit was thrown out. That’s a 0.5 percentage point lead, and it’s small enough that McCrory isn’t willing to concede until thousands of provisional, absentee and military ballots are counted and the election results certified by state election officials. U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs said last month that these votes should count unless the DMV shows the voters affirmatively refused in writing to register.
If Cooper’s margin remains below 10,000 votes, McCrory can call for a statewide recount, and with the possibility of other legal challenges and conceivably even legislative intervention to decide a contested result, few outside Cooper’s campaign are ready to put a date on the naming of the next governor. Pat McCrory and whether the trailing candidate will seek a recount. Brunswick County Elections Director Sara Knotts said the board approved 292 ballots and denied 377 of the 785 provisional ballots submitted.
Democrat Josh Stein also beat out Republican Buck Newton for Attorney General. “But if the Atkinson precedent is followed, the legislature may have the final say”.
“Every vote is always very important and we take our jobs very seriously”, board chairman Ellis Boyle said. The Democratic-led Legislature chose Democrat June Atkinson the following August.
That presents problems for Cooper, even as he calls himself governor-elect.
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“I think it’s a Hail Mary”.
