Update 12/3/2018 9:00am:
Andy Penry, Chairman of the North Carolina Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement, has just resigned after a complaint was filed by the NC GOP regarding alleged partisan statements.
The chairman of the North Carolina Board of Elections has resigned amid a growing investigation into possible election fraud that allegedly took place in this year’s primary and general elections in the state’s 9th Congressional District. Andy Penry,….
— Jhawn Paul (@PinkSheepNews) December 3, 2018
….a Democrat appointed to the position by the state’s Democratic Governor Roy Cooper, had been facing criticism from local Republican officials that he is biased, pointing to various Twitter posts that were critical of @realDonaldTrump as evidence.
— Jhawn Paul (@PinkSheepNews) December 3, 2018
Update 11/30/2018 3:00pm:
The board voted to postpone the certification until after Dec. 21st when all the evidence is heard related to possible fraudulent absentee ballot activity related to the 9th district race;
.@NCSBE voted 7-2 Friday to hold public hearing by Dec. 21 into claims of irregularities and fraudulent activities related to absentee by-mail ballots in the 9th CD. Audio is here: https://t.co/iyywGwiOsw #ncpol
— NCSBE (@NCSBE) November 30, 2018
Original article 11/28/2018 10:00am:
Yesterday afternoon, the North Carolina State Board of Elections declined to certify the results of NC’s 9th District Congressional race between Democrat Dan McCready and Republican Mark Harris, citing “unfortunate activities”.
Although each of the reporting 9th district counties have now certified their numbers, with Harris ahead of McCready by 905 votes, the state board decided to delay certifying the race.
“I’m very familiar with unfortunate activities that have been happening down in my part of the state,” Democrat vice chair member Joshua Malcolm 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.”
In his motion, NCSBE Vice Chair Joshua Malcolm:
“I am very familiar with unfortunate activities down in my part of the state 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.”
— Joe Bruno (@JoeBrunoWSOC9) November 27, 2018
During the meeting, he noted that it’s the board’s authority under state law to make sure that “without taint of fraud or corruption and without irregularities that may have changed the result of an election.”
He did give any more details as to what the ‘unfortunate activities’ might be.
“The board has the authority and has the duty to ensure that when it certifies an election that what’s being certified represents the will of the people,” Malcolm told WFAE.
While some say the decision to refuse to certify the election results was ‘partisan’, Damon Circosta notes that the decision was unanimous by a board set up by a Republican legislature;
Vote today was 9-0. R,D & U. Board that did this was created by R legislature. #FactsMatter https://t.co/uq3gvp3VED
— Damon Circosta (@dcircosta) November 28, 2018
Malcolm is from Robeson County, part of North Carolina’s 9th District. In 2013, he was appointed by Republican Governor Patrick McCrory and was recently reappointed by Democratic Governor Roy Cooper.
A spokesman for the Harris campaign would not comment. The McCready campaign could not be reached.