The attorneys who brought a defamation lawsuit over voter protests filed in the wake of last November’s election want to add former Gov. Pat McCrory’s legal defense fund and the attorneys who helped file those protests to their suit. They also want to turn the case into a class-action suit on behalf of more than 100 people who they say were unfairly maligned when Republicans falsely accused them of casting fraudulent votes. Attorneys for the Southern Coalition for Social Justice argue there was a coordinated effort by attorneys from a well-connected Republican law firm in Virginia to throw the results of North Carolina’s close gubernatorial race into doubt. Those attorneys, the lawsuit argues, helped North Carolina voters challenge Democratic votes “to delay certification of the election and suggest that voter fraud affected the election results.”
Attorneys with the firm accused, Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky, did not return messages seeking comment Friday. Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the North Carolina Republican Party, called the lawsuit “a disgusting intimidation effort” meant to dissuade people from filing reasonable challenges.
Challenges that individual voters voted twice or otherwise voted illegally may not always prove correct, Woodhouse said, but people should be able to file protests and call for investigations without being certain.
“The system’s not perfect, it will never be perfect, but it’s got to have checks,” he said. “And this is one.”
Full Article: Voting defamation suit seeks to widen net, accuses GOP attorneys of conspiracy :: WRAL.com.