NC-9: NC Board of Elections refuses to certify result

In a surprising development, a closed meeting of the North Carolina Board of Elections today ended with the Board refusing to certify the election results in the 9th congressional district.  In that race Mark Harris supposedly defeated Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes.  What was expected to be a routine certification of results was side-tracked when Board member Joshua Malcolm  asked the Board to remove the 9th District from the list of those certified.

I’m very familiar with unfortunate activities that have been happening down in my part of the state,” Malcolm, a Robeson County Democrat, told the board. “And I am not going to turn a blind eye to what took place to the best of my understanding which has been ongoing for a number of years that has repeatedly been referred to the United States attorney and the district attorneys for them to take action and clean it up. And in my opinion those things have not taken place.

State Republican party chair Dallas Woodhouse predictably reacted by claiming that the Board had abused their discretion and violated the statute.  Neither the Harris nor the McReady campaign would comment on the day’s events.