One of the most hotly contested races of 2016 is still being contested. And the North Carolina governor’s race could drag on past Thanksgiving in an ugly way: The Democrat is declaring victory but the Republican incumbent is refusing to concede, and his campaign is raising the possibility of voter fraud. There could even be a recount. Cooper declared victory early Wednesday with a 5,000-vote lead over McCrory out of 4.6 million votes cast. 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. In fact, on Thursday afternoon, McCrory’s campaign announced they hired a lawyer and set up a legal defense fund in preparation to contest the results.
North Carolina Republicans were aghast that Cooper could declare victory. The state GOP chairman, Robin Hayes, said in a statement that it was “rude and grossly premature.”
On top of that, McCrory’s campaign is casting doubt about how the vote got tallied in a Democratic stronghold that, at the last minute, appeared to hand Cooper the election.
Full Article: The North Carolina governor’s race still isn’t over. And it’s about to get even uglier. – The Washington Post.