State Board Orders Recount Of 94,000 Durham County Votes

NC House Democratic Leader Rep. Larry Hall  warns that “there is a grave cost to taxpayers to continue to question the legitimacy of their votes.”

RALEIGH, NC– After a meeting that lasted roughly three hours, the State Board of Elections has ordered a recount of 94,000 votes in Durham County recorded late on Election Night because of technical difficulties. The Board voted 3-2 along party lines during the meeting on Wednesday Nov. 30.

The hearing was possibly one of Republican Gov. Pat McCrory’s last hopes to catch up to Democrat Roy Cooper in the governor’s race. Governor Pat McCrory campaign issued this statement on Wednesday before the meeting:

“Durham County has a history of election administration problems, including the current SBI investigation into the administration of the March primary. To have confidence in the election results, Durham County early vote tabulations must be addressed by the State Board today.”

Roy Cooper’s margin of victory has now grown to over 10,000 reaching 10,329 in the latest count. Cooper campaign manager Trey Nix released the following statement in response to the decision made by the North Carolina State Board of Elections:

“We are confident that this recount will confirm Roy Cooper’s election as Governor of North Carolina. It is wrong that Governor McCrory continues to waste taxpayer money with false accusations and attempts to delay and that the Republican controlled Board of Elections did not follow the law. However, Roy Cooper’s lead has grown to over 10,000 votes and after a partial recount of 6 precincts in one county, the outcome of the election will be the same.”

NC House Democratic Leader Rep. Larry Hall calls the actions of Gov. McCrory and the NC GOP a “scheme to compromise legitimacy…efforts to deligitimize the people’s voice.”

Hall released this statement on Wednesday:

“You do not change the rules after the game is played just because you do not like the outcome. You do not do it in everyday life, you do not do it for the state supreme court, and you do not do it for the governor’s race.  Despite innocent people being falsely accused and our democracy being defamed for political gain, the scheme to disinfranchise voters continues. Make no mistake, there is a grave cost to taxpayers to continue to question the legitimacy of their votes, to drag out the governor’s race, and to try to stack the state supreme court. Let’s be clear on the facts: the Republican Governor appointed every member of the state Board of Election and the Governor appointed each member of every local county boards of election which the majority are Republicans. The elections were conducted by the rules, we won the election by the rules, and now they are questioning the election rules? Here’s the scheme: Don’t like the outcome of the Governor’s race? Delay and obstruct and try to deligitimize the election process to put the governor’s race in the hands of the Republican-majority legislature, regardless of how the people voted. Don’t like the outcome of the supreme court race? Call a special session to add on two more Justices that the Governor gets to pick before he leaves office in order to stack the court. We are not falling for it. Nice (detestable) try, though.”

“Governor McCrory, it’s over. Governor-Elect Roy Cooper’s lead is more than 10,000, and it’s time to accept the will of the people,” North Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Patsy Keever said Wednesday. “We congratulate Governor-Elect Cooper again on a hard-fought victory, and we look forward to working with him to build a better North Carolina.”