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.
“In the event that there are appeals of those individualized decisions, those would be added up together to determine whether there’s some sort of net effect on the statewide races,” said Joshua Lawson, the State Board of Elections’ general counsel.
In other words, the major question the state board will eventually have to answer is whether there are enough contested ballots to change the course of the election between McCrory and Cooper or another statewide race.
For the time being, that answer appears to be “no.” However, the uncertainty that has characterized the election will have some effect. It’s now all but impossible for the state to have a certified statewide figure on Nov. 29 as originally scheduled. Instead, the soonest there could be a final result will be early December. McCrory has already asked the state board for a recount, a process that will further delay a final result.
Full Article: State board to counties: Keep counting :: WRAL.com.