North Carolina: Senate passes controversial merger of ethics, elections boards | WRAL

The state Senate has signed off on legislation that creates a single board to oversee the state's ethics, lobbying and elections administration. Republican sponsors insist it is aimed at creating a bipartisan panel to oversee all decisions on lobbying, elections and ethics rules. But that eight-member board would need six votes to take any action, something critics say would bog it down and make it less able to act. Senate readies elections, ethics overhaul "That will require bipartisan cooperation," said Sen. Tommy Tucker, R-Union. The idea, he said, would be to encourage consensus decisions. The measure passed 30-16 and is now headed to the House for consideration. Deliberations were interrupted by protestors who at various times laughed, clapped or expressed disapproval. After a third interruption, Lt. Gov. Dan Forest ordered the visitor's gallery cleared. That provoked an even louder outburst followed by chanting once the doors were finally locked.

North Carolina: Proposal to split elections boards between political parties moves ahead | News & Observer

A proposal to combine North Carolina’s elections, ethics and lobbyist regulation, among other provisions, was approved in the Senate on Thursday. Republican legislators who wrote Senate Bill 4 describe it as an effort to make elections oversight bipartisan. But the result would be to deprive the incoming Democratic administration of control of state and county elections boards. After Senate Republicans won a 30-16 vote along party lines, the bill was sent to the House. The Republican-led General Assembly called itself into special session on Wednesday and has been considering major changes to state government operations. SB 4 would replace the current State Board of Elections with the current eight-member State Ethics Commission. The new board would assume lobbying regulation duties from the Secretary of State. It would be run by the current director of the state elections office, Kim Strach, until a new board is seated in July and choses a director.

North Carolina: Concession in auditor race wraps up North Carolina elections | Associated Press

North Carolina's fall election essentially wrapped up Friday as the trailing candidate in the state auditor's race conceded near the end of a statewide recount and officials certified results for president, U.S. Senate, governor and scores of other contests. Democratic State Auditor Beth Wood won another four-year term after Republican challenger Chuck Stuber said it appears his campaign would come up short on the vote count. With nearly all 100 counties completing the recount Stuber requested earlier this week, Wood was leading by a little over 6,000 votes from more than 4.5 million votes cast. "Now that we have won I am ready to move forward with my third term to continue the mission in helping our state become a model for the nation in efficiency and budgetary effectiveness," Wood said in a release.

North Carolina: Gov. Pat McCrory concedes defeat to Roy Cooper as Durham County recount wraps up | News & Observer

Gov. Pat McCrory announced Monday that he’s conceded the election to Roy Cooper, assuring a new period of divided power in state government. Four years after becoming the first Republican to win the North Carolina governor’s office in more than two decades, McCrory made the concession in a video message posted around noon Monday as a recount he requested in Durham County entered its final hours. Durham officials finished the recount later Monday with virtually no change in the vote tally there. “I personally believe that the majority of our citizens have spoken, and we now should do everything we can to support the 75th governor of North Carolina, Roy Cooper,” McCrory said in the video. “The McCrory administration team will assist in every way to help the new administration make a smooth transition. “It’s time to celebrate our democratic process and respect what I see to be the ultimate outcome of the closest North Carolina governor’s race in modern history.”

North Carolina: Pat McCrory, North Carolina Governor, Concedes After Acrimonious Race | The New York Times

Ending an acrimonious stalemate that dragged on for nearly a month, Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, conceded in his bid for re-election here on Monday, clearing the way for the ascension of his challenger, the Democrat Roy Cooper, and giving the national Democratic Party a rare cause for celebration. Mr. Cooper, the state attorney general, declared victory on election night, but Mr. McCrory’s allies lodged election challenges in dozens of North Carolina counties, enraging Democrats who accused Republicans of being sore losers, or worse, in one of 2016’s closest statewide races. Most of the challenges proved to be of little consequence, however. And by Monday, as partial results of a recount of more than 90,000 votes that Republicans had demanded in Durham County showed no significant change in the results, Mr. McCrory — whose one term was buffeted by nationwide anger over a law he signed that curbed anti-discrimination protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people — had little choice but to admit defeat.

North Carolina: Durham County officials should meet Monday deadline for vote recount | News & Observer

The recount of about 94,000 ballots in Durham County should be finished well before the 7 p.m. Monday deadline, officials said Sunday as the tabulations were in full swing. The Durham County Board of Elections hired more than 50 locals and brought in extra vote-counting machines to help speed the recount, which began Saturday afternoon after emergency meetings held by both the county board and the state board of elections that tackled controversial election issues around the state. Workers were on pace to count more than two-thirds of the disputed ballots by the end of the day Sunday, officials said, leaving more than enough time Monday to finish the rest and let people know where the governor’s race stands. The recount worked like an assembly line. One worker handed ballots to another worker standing at one of 26 machines, feeding them in. Others watched to make sure everything was proper. Several hours into Sunday’s work, the recount was averaging approximately 5,000 ballots per hour.

North Carolina: Durham County begin recounts; Bladen County protest denied | Winston Salem Journal

Durham County began recounting ballots on Saturday afternoon, moving the date from today to comply with an order from state elections officials to complete the task by Monday night. The Durham County Board of Elections scheduled an emergency meeting for 11 a.m. Saturday and planned to begin the recount at 1 p.m. After the State Board of Elections set a 7 p.m. Monday deadline, Durham officials asked for an extension to complete the recount but the state board denied the request. The state board voted along party lines Wednesday to order a machine recount of votes cast during early voting and at several precincts in Durham County, backing a request from Republicans and Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign.

North Carolina: The North Carolina GOP Has a New Suppression Tactic: Voter Defamation | New Republic

My neighbor Lucia Foster was surprised when I emailed her on November 18. “Are you aware,” I asked, “that your name is on one of the election protest petitions?” Foster was raised to take voting seriously. She grew up in both Bangkok, Thailand, where her parents worked for the U.S. Agency for International Development, and Washington, D.C.’s Capitol Hill. “I was aware, from a young age, of how government works,” she says. “And I saw the impact of elections on foreign aid overseas.” Now 41, Foster has voted her entire adult life—she’s a Democrat—and this year moved her registration to Durham, North Carolina. When she’s not working as a clinical-trials specialist, she teaches drama at a theater company with a social-justice bent.Now, to her befuddlement, Foster was seeing her name on a list of suspicious voters. Supporters of North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory, a Republican seeking a second term, had launched an all-out campaign to question the legitimacy of a contest that he appeared to be losing to Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper. As of Thursday evening, Cooper’s lead was 10,267 votes out of 4.6 million cast, though no winner has been declared.

North Carolina: Conservative group’s lawsuit sets off eleventh-hour scramble in governor’s race | Facing South

It's been three weeks since Election Day and North Carolinians still don't know officially who their next governor will be. In that time, Democratic challenger Roy Cooper's lead has doubled and numerous county-level voter challenges filed by the campaign of incumbent Gov. Pat McCrory and other Republicans have been rebuffed by the state's GOP-controlled county elections boards. In some cases, the McCrory campaign falsely accused voters of being felons, incorrectly claimed voters cast ballots in multiple states, and lodged erroneous fraud claims against voters who died after casting early ballots. This week the N.C. State Board of Elections instructed counties to dismiss McCrory's protests, though it did grant his request for a countywide recount of early votes as well as a recount of Election Day votes in one Durham County precinct. The recount is required to be completed on Dec. 5. Cooper currently has a lead of 10,263 votes, just over the 10,000-vote cutoff for a statewide recount, which McCrory requested before many counties had certified their results.

North Carolina: Durham elections board denied extension on Monday recount deadline | News & Observer

The Durham County Board of Elections on Friday unsuccessfully requested an extension of the state’s deadline to recount 90,000 votes – arguing the recount can’t be completed by Monday evening. Later Friday, the State Board of Elections denied the extension. “State Board officials have been working with Durham County officials to ensure the recount is conducted as expeditiously as possible,” agency spokesman Patrick Gannon said. “At this point, the State Board office does not believe an extension beyond Monday night is necessary.” The Durham board met Friday morning to discuss the State Board of Elections order that it complete a recount by 7 p.m. Monday. Durham wanted that deadline extended to Wednesday because it expects it will take that long to run 90,000 ballots through its tabulating machines if it begins Sunday morning.

North Carolina: Durham County faces Monday deadline to hold recount | News & Observer

Durham County must complete a recount of 90,000 votes by 7 p.m. Monday, according to a State Board of Elections order issued late Thursday. The state board voted 3-2 along party lines Wednesday to order a machine recount of votes cast during early voting in Durham County, backing a request from Republicans and Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign. The three Republicans on the board voted for the recount, saying that the late addition of the 90,000 votes to the statewide tally on election night constituted an “irregularity.” The state board’s decision overturned the Durham County Board of Elections, also controlled by Republicans, which had rejected the recount request as baseless. The recount could finally settle the governor’s race between McCrory and Democrat Roy Cooper, the state’s attorney general.

North Carolina: Partial Recount Ordered in North Carolina Governor’s Race | The New York Times

Acceding to the wishes of the embattled Gov. Pat McCrory, the North Carolina State Board of Elections on Wednesday ordered a recount of roughly 94,000 votes in Durham County, a move that could help resolve a contested governor’s race here that remains undecided three weeks after Election Day. Mr. McCrory, a Republican, has trailed by a thin margin in the unofficial statewide count since the Nov. 8 election. He has declined to concede the race to his opponent, Roy Cooper, a Democrat and the state’s attorney general. Mr. McCrory’s campaign has raised questions about voting irregularities in dozens of counties, but Democrats have dismissed them as frivolous or inaccurate. Until Wednesday night, many of the rulings of the state elections board and 100 county boards — all of which are controlled by Republicans — have tended to go against Mr. McCrory. Mr. Cooper’s campaign and liberal groups have been urging Mr. McCrory to concede.

North Carolina: Elections board orders Durham County recount in party-line vote | News & Observer

The State Board of Elections voted 3-2 along party lines Wednesday to order a machine recount of 90,000 votes in Durham County, backing a request from Republicans and Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign. The three Republicans on the board voted for the recount, saying that the late addition of the 90,000 votes to the statewide tally on election night constituted an “irregularity.” The two Democrats on the board opposed the recount, arguing that no evidence suggested any mistakes in counting Durham votes. “What harm would it do to scan these votes and count them?” said board member and retired Judge James Baker, a Republican. “It’s not likely to change anything. There was enough of an irregularity to make people wonder.”

North Carolina: State Ordered to Hold Special Elections After Redrawing Districts | Governing

A federal court Tuesday ordered North Carolina to hold a special legislative election next year after 28 state House and Senate districts are redrawn to comply with a gerrymandering ruling. U.S. District Court judges earlier this year threw out the current legislative district map, ruling that 28 of them were unconstitutional racial gerrymanders. They allowed the 2016 election to continue under the old maps, but ordered legislators to draw new districts in 2017. Tuesday's order settled the question of whether the new districts would take effect for the regularly scheduled 2018 election cycle, or if a special election would be required. "While special elections have costs, those costs pale in comparison to the injury caused by allowing citizens to continue to be represented by legislators elected pursuant to a racial gerrymander," the three-judge panel wrote in the order.

North Carolina: NC GOP: Durham recount could resolve governor’s election within days | News & Observer

After the State Board of Elections effectively rejected Republican protests about ineligible voters, Durham County is the last point of contention in the unresolved governor’s race – and the N.C. Republican Party said Tuesday that a recount there could resolve the election within days. The board will meet Wednesday afternoon to review a request for a recount of early votes in Durham County. As the final absentee and provisional ballots are tallied this week, Democrat Roy Cooper had a lead of around 9,800 votes late Tuesday over Republican Gov. Pat McCrory. McCrory is entitled to a statewide recount if the margin remains under 10,000 votes. Cooper got 79 percent of the vote in Durham County, and the Democratic stronghold has been a frequent target of Republican election complaints.

North Carolina: McCrory campaign said it would appeal election complaints – but hasn’t | News & Observer

As Republican-led county election boards began to reject GOP complaints, Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign said Nov. 18 it expected the rulings to be “immediately appealed to the State Board of Elections.” Ten days later, the state board has received only two appeals – both challenging decisions by the Durham County Board of Elections. In those appeals, Republicans are seeking a hand recount and an opportunity to inspect absentee ballot envelopes for signs of fraud. But without more appeals, Republican claims of voter fraud and irregularities in more than 50 counties appear to have fizzled. McCrory trails Democratic challenger Roy Cooper by about 9,700 votes. As of Monday evening, only three counties had not yet held hearings on the complaints, which include allegations that ineligible felons and dead people voted, and that some voters cast ballots in multiple states. Hearings in those counties are scheduled for this week.

North Carolina: Congressional redistricting case to be heard at Supreme Court on Monday | Miami Herald

Lawyers for the state of North Carolina will make oral arguments in the Supreme Court next week, seeking to overturn a lower federal court’s ruling that two of the state’s congressional districts were illegally and intentionally drawn to weaken African-American and minority voting power. It’s expected the high court could hand down a decision in the case next spring or summer. That process, though, could be delayed if the current eight justices opt to have both sides re-argue the case next year, should a ninth justice be confirmed and join the bench. The Supreme Court’s decision in the redistricting case – stemming from a legal challenge to congressional district maps drawn in 2011 by state lawmakers – could have significant political impact, though North Carolina already has redrawn the contested maps and the state used the newly approved districts in this year’s election. Earlier this year, a panel of three federal judges forced North Carolina to postpone congressional primaries and re-do the maps.

North Carolina: Gov. Pat McCory will accept defeat if recount in Durham upholds previous results | News & Observer

Gov. Pat McCrory is ready to withdraw his request for a statewide recount if a new hand count of Durham County votes produces the same results as Election Day, his campaign announced Saturday evening. The governor is asking the N.C. State Board of Elections to hold an expedited hearing on an appeal of the Durham County election board’s denial of a request for a recount there. The state board on Saturday called for a Sunday afternoon meeting by phone to discuss this matter and a federal lawsuit challenging same-day registration ballots. “If a Durham recount provides the same results as earlier posted, the McCrory Committee will be prepared to withdraw its statewide recount request in the Governors race,” the campaign’s news release says.

North Carolina: Governor requests vote recount in tight race | Reuters

North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory announced on Tuesday he has officially requested a recount of votes from the Nov. 8 election with official results showing him trailing his Democratic challenger, Attorney General Roy Cooper, by one-tenth of a point. The gubernatorial race in the ninth largest U.S. state remained undecided two weeks after Election Day. Officials with the State Board of Elections were continually updating results as they arrived from the state's 100 counties. A recount is mandatory if the margin is less than 10,000 votes once all 100 counties have finished their canvasses, a spokesman for the election board said. As of Tuesday afternoon, Cooper's lead was 6,187 out of 4.7 million votes cast.

North Carolina: 2004 race may have set precedent for governor’s outcome | News & Observer

It was a statewide race that wasn’t decided for 10 months, and then not by a vote of the people but by 114 legislators. Now, with North Carolina’s governor’s race still undecided after two weeks, political observers are taking another look at the disputed 2004 election for state superintendent of public instruction. The race tested a little-known provision of the state constitution, came close to a showdown with the state Supreme Court and set a precedent for deciding contested elections – perhaps including this year’s gubernatorial race. Since trailing Democrat Roy Cooper by around 5,000 votes on election night, Republican Gov. Pat McCrory has seen his allies file protests in more than half the state’s counties. Meanwhile Cooper’s lead has risen to what more than 7,700 votes, according to the state elections board. Cooper puts the margin at more than 8,500. McCrory has officially asked for a recount even as election officials are still counting votes and reviewing challenges. And whoever ends up trailing after the official count could appeal the results – directly to the General Assembly. That’s what happened in 2004.

North Carolina: Gov. Pat McCrory wants recount in race with Roy Cooper | News & Observer

Republican Gov. Pat McCrory has formally requested a recount of votes in his close race with Democrat Roy Cooper. Two weeks after Election Day, Cooper is moving ahead with preparations to take office as governor but McCrory has sought to raise doubts about the integrity of the election. More than half of the state’s 100 counties reported final results on or before Tuesday, even as county officials awaited guidance from the State Board of Elections on how to deal with allegations from Republicans of people voting in two states, ineligible felons voting and absentee voters who died before Election Day. Those questioned ballots add up to a few hundred, not the thousands of votes by which McCrory trails. A recount would happen after all counties report final results and only if fewer than 10,000 votes continue to separate Cooper and McCrory. More than 4.69 million votes were cast in the race.

North Carolina: State board to counties: Keep counting | WRAL

County election officials should keep counting votes from the Nov. 8 election despite numerous protests, the State Board of Elections ruled Tuesday afternoon. It's unclear whether lawyers for Gov. Pat McCrory or Attorney General Roy Cooper won the day at the conclusion of the three-hour dive into election minutia. The Republican incumbent and his Democratic rival have been battling over election results that give Cooper a roughly 6,100-vote edge. A written order that was to be issued later Tuesday will likely clarify matters on all sides. However, it is all but certain that this is not the last time the two sides will clash. The five-member state board did not look at individual cases Tuesday. Rather, the board wanted to give counties broad guidance about how to handle certain categories of voters, including those who cast ballots and then died or those who may have been on probation for felony crimes when they voted.

North Carolina: Legislature could revisit election laws in wake of McCrory complaints, Moore says | News & Observer

N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore said Monday that the legislature could revisit voter ID requirements and other election laws in the wake of complaints filed with help from Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign. During a news conference announcing House Republican leaders for next year’s legislative session, Moore was asked about the complaints filed amid a tight governor’s race – making claims that dead people and convicted felons voted in this year’s election. “The fact that there are a number of protests related to the election at least make it an issue that it’s something that needs to be dealt with,” Moore told reporters.

North Carolina: McCrory alleges voter fraud in bid to hang on | Politico

North Carolina GOP Gov. Pat McCrory, who signed a 2013 voter-ID law which a federal court rolled back this year for illegally suppressing African-American votes, is now claiming that massive voter fraud in his state swung the 2016 election against him, as McCrory’s campaign continues to challenge Democrat Roy Cooper’s thin lead two weeks after Election Day. The contentious, bitter race between McCrory and Cooper, the state attorney general, is the closest governor’s race in the country in a dozen years — and it’s not officially over. Cooper, the state attorney general, has extended his lead to 7,902 votes during an ongoing canvass of absentee and provisional ballots, his campaign says. (The State Board of Elections, which updates less frequently, shows Cooper leading by 6,703 votes.) And on Monday, Cooper announced a transition team to prepare to take the reins of state government despite McCrory’s intense push to dispute the results. But McCrory still hasn’t conceded, alleging voter fraud in 50 of North Carolina’s 100 counties and contesting individual votes before dozens of local election boards, claiming that dead people, felons and people who voted in other states cast ballots in the race. On Sunday, the McCrory campaign emailed supporters, saying the “election is still in overtime,” and soliciting contributions for its legal fund.

North Carolina: McCrory campaign request on election complaint review rejected – for now | News & Observer

The State Board of Elections on Sunday rejected a request from Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign to take over election protest reviews, instead setting a 10 a.m. Tuesday meeting to set guidelines for counties to address the complaints. The McCrory campaign has been involved in filing dozens of elections protests regarding dead voters, felon voters, people voting twice and absentee ballot concerns – some of which were rejected by Republican-led county election boards on Friday. Campaign manager Russell Peck asked the state board to rule on all complaints. County elections boards must rule on the complaints first before their decision can be appealed to the State Board of Elections. In a rare “emergency” meeting on Sunday, the state board didn’t rule out the possibility of reviewing election complaints – but it left the initial responsibility with county boards.

North Carolina: Voting complications expected to delay outcome of races | News & Observer

Uncertainty over how many as-yet uncounted votes will be added to the results of last week’s election is not likely to be resolved by Friday’s deadline, delaying the outcome of close races for governor and other offices. Counties are dealing with several complications, including election protests and accommodating a late court order to count the votes of those who say they registered at motor-vehicle offices but did not show up on voter rolls. County elections boards are permitted to extend their vote canvassing, which was to occur Friday, and many if not all are expected to do that, state elections board spokesman Patrick Gannon said. The state board can delay its final certification of the votes by up to 10 days past its own due date of Nov. 29 if some counties don’t report to the state by then, which would postpone the final outcome until Dec. 9.

North Carolina: Republicans Battle to Save Governor, Trailing by Whisker | The New York Times

Democrats and Republicans in this fiercely contested political battleground have regularly resorted to creative legal maneuvers and election-law changes in their efforts to wring every last vote from the state’s nearly seven million voters. But even by that standard, the disputed, hairbreadth race for governor is plowing litigious and acrimonious ground. Scrambling to save the incumbent governor, Pat McCrory, Republicans said they were pursuing protests in about half of North Carolina’s 100 counties, alleging that fraud and technical troubles had pushed the Democratic nominee, Attorney General Roy Cooper, to a statewide lead of more than 6,500 votes. But Republican-controlled county elections boards, including one here in vote-rich Durham County, turned back some of the challenges on Friday. The legal and political jockeying raised the specter of a recount, and it could ultimately climax in a political wild card: Mr. McCrory using a state law to contest the election in the state’s Republican-dominated General Assembly. “We’re supposed to have an inauguration on Jan. 7,” Theresa Kostrzewa, a Republican lobbyist, said Friday. “Are we going to have a governor? That, I think, is what most people are going to start wondering pretty soon.”

North Carolina: Roy Cooper team claims insurmountable gap over incumbent Pat McCrory | News & Observer

Roy Cooper’s election law specialist told reporters on Friday that internal calculations tell the campaign that the attorney general has an insurmountable lead over Gov. Pat McCrory. Cooper, the Democrat, has held a lead of about 5,000 votes since Election Day. That lead has increased to 7,448 votes, according to Marc Elias who spoke to reporters in a phone-in conference. He said he expects that lead to grow slightly, based on the mix of counties that have yet to report outstanding ballots. “This race has simply gotten away from Pat McCrory,” Elias said. “More North Carolinians voted for Roy Cooper than Pat McCrory, and did so by a close but significant margin. There is nothing Gov. McCrory or his legal team are going to be able to do to undo what is just basic math.” McCrory and state Republican officials have filed protests questioning voter integrity in 52 of the state’s 100 counties. The first of those counties that began deliberating those protests on Friday overwhelmingly rejected them.

North Carolina: Appeal planned after Durham County dismisses demand for hand recount | News & Observer

A series of decisions Friday by local elections boards dealt a setback to Republican Gov. Pat McCrory’s hopes of challenging results that have left him trailing in his bid for re-election. Now his campaign is putting its hopes in the N.C. State Board of Elections. Protests have been filed questioning alleged irregularities in 52 of the state’s 100 counties. The first county elections boards that began deliberating those protests on Friday overwhelmingly rejected them. McCrory’s campaign on Friday evening asked the state board to take the protests out of the hands of county boards and decide the issues itself, in order to ensure consistent decisions and a quicker resolution. The state board has not yet responded. Both state and county elections boards are controlled by Republicans.

North Carolina: Counting is far from over for North Carolina governor’s race | Associated Press

All the counting was supposed to be all but over by Friday, but North Carolina's too-close-to-call governor's race remains nowhere near done, the State Board of Elections said Thursday. Election officials say delays in receiving information from the Department of Motor Vehicles are causing many of the problems. A federal judge ordered that votes of people who signed up at DMV offices must be counted unless the agency proves they refused to register. Lots of formal local challenges also are postponing final totals as state board figures late Thursday showed Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper leading McCrory by about 4,600 of the nearly 4.7 million votes already tallied. By Friday, all 100 counties were supposed to finish deciding whether to count or set aside more than 60,000 mailed-in absentee and provisional ballots statewide, unseal the voters' choices and send updated vote totals for dozens of races to the State Board of Elections.