The State Board of Elections has called an emergency meeting for 4 p.m. today to consider a request from the McCrory Committee to have the state board assume jurisdiction over all the protests filed at county election boards over the race between incumbent Gov. Pat McCrory and Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper.
Notice and responses here.
In its request, the McCrory Committee said the state board would be able to “consolidate protests” and prevent the use of “inconsistent results.”
In response, Cooper attorney Kevin Hamilton said counties should maintain jurisdiction even though the state board could offer them legal guidance about how to consider evidence. Hamilton said the statute of limitations for the vast majority of protests expired either Tuesday or Friday of last week (depending on the nature of the protest) and many were filed after the deadline, and that if the state board had to resolve the remaining protests, the necessity of convening dozens of hearings, calling witnesses, and allowing responses would cause pointless delays.
The public can listen to the hearing by calling 213-929-4212 and entering code 327-427-829.