The Democrat in North Carolina’s disputed 9th Congressional District election wants to subpoena nearly 50 witnesses for the state board of elections’ hearing scheduled for Jan. 11. But state Republicans vowed to sue Gov. Roy Cooper if he tries to appoint Republican members to the interim board that would be tasked with holding that hearing. Just another day in the wild 9th district. Republican Mark Harris won an apparent victory by 905 votes over Democrat Dan McCready on Nov. 6, but the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement twice declined to certify the election citing voting irregularities among absentee ballots in Bladen and Robeson counties. The nine-member board scheduled a hearing on Jan. 11, but a three-judge panel dissolved the board on Dec. 28, leaving no board in place at the moment for the potential hearing. That didn’t stop a lawyer for McCready’s campaign from submitting a list Sunday of 48 potential witnesses, including a former worker for the National Republican Campaign Committee who Harris hired to be his chief of staff.
The McCready campaign was the only campaign to submit a list of witnesses to be subpoenaed, according to state board spokesman Patrick Gannon.
Cooper vowed to appoint five members to an interim board to deal with the investigation into the 9th. But Republicans on Sunday warned that Cooper does not have the authority to nominate and appoint members to the “interim” board and promised to sue if he tries. In a letter from John Lewis, a former state board member and now special counsel to the N.C. GOP, the party said only its state chairman Robin Hayes could nominate Republicans to serve on the board.
Full Article: Dan McCready: Calls for 48 subpoenas by elections board | McClatchy Washington Bureau.