Mark Harris Asks Morphing Board of Elections to Certify 9th District Results, Board Declines, Asks Harris to Honor Subpoena

RALEIGH – After weeks of uncertainty and a lack of hard evidence that suspected fraud changed the outcome of the 9th Congressional District election, Republican Mark Harris is demanding the State Board of Elections certify the results of the race, or he will appeal to federal authorities.

I can confirm that @MarkHarrisNC9 is in the process of asking @NCSBE to certify him the winner before noon today. @ncgop @ChairmanHayes in full support of this motion that will be filed in the next 30 minutes.

— Dallas Woodhouse (@DallasWoodhouse) December 28, 2018

NEW: Attorneys for Mark Harris just sent NCSBE this letter asking for Harris to be certified as the winner of #NC09 #ncpol @wsoctv pic.twitter.com/Z8dnFzzHDb

— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) December 28, 2018

The State Board, via Democratic Chairman Joshua Malcolm, a.k.a. Cooper’s Partisan Hack, issued this response to the Harris petition:

The State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement (the “State Board”)
received the above-referenced Petition by email at 10:15 a.m. today. It was
transmitted to all appointed State Board members at 10:16 a.m. Your Petition
requests certification before noon today, which would require consideration in an
emergency meeting called by the Chair or by a majority of State Board members. See
G.S. § 163A-3(a). Neither has occurred. As of the issuance of this letter, only two
board members requested a meeting to consider your petition.

Malcolm followed up with counter-demands for Harris to show up for an interview as part of the fraud investigation for which Harris was subpoenaed. The response makes quite a few charges that Harris is withholding information from the investigation, but it is hard to take anyone at their word in this whole saga. Harris may have knowingly employed sketchy GOTV contractors, and the Board leadership is made up of partisan hacks that have essentially admitted to turning a blind eye to years of fraud, only now to pursue them once it is a Republican in the cross-hairs.

It all just adds to the sense of chaos in the 9th District and the Board of Elections, providing political canon fodder for both sides in the closing days of 2018.