With 91 counties official, Cooper leads McCrory by 9,764
RALEIGH (WTVD) -- Just nine counties remain to be certified after Durham County made its vote count official at 12:19 p.m. Tuesday.
The current count has Attorney General Roy Cooper leading Gov. Pat McCrory by 9,764 votes.
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Wake, Johnston, Moore, and Robeson are among the counties still counting ballots.
On Monday evening, the State Board clarified to ABC11 that it has not thrown out any protests.
The State Board of Elections has ordered counties not to throw out any ballots unless, if combined, they are outcome-determinative at the local level.
The counties are to inform the State of the number of ballots in question and then the state will then aggregate those ballots in statewide races to see if they would affect the outcome of those races.
MCCRORY OFFICE NIXES ELECTIONS BOARD HIRING OF SOME LAWYERS
Meanwhile, Gov. Pat McCrory's fiercest critic says it's time McCrory "end these games" as his campaign supports unfounded voting fraud allegations and acknowledge he lost his bid for re-election.
"This is a devastating blow to the McCrory campaign and further evidence that there is no path to victory for Governor McCrory," said Cooper for NC Campaign Manager Trey Nix. "Roy Cooper's lead has grown to over 9,000 votes as Republican claims of voter fraud have been routinely rejected by members of their own party. It's time for Governor McCrory to respect the will of the voters."
READ THE BOARD OF ELECTION'S ORDER HERE (.pdf)
"After (Monday's) State Board of Elections decision, it is clear that most aspects of the 2016 election are ready to be concluded," said NCGOP Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse, in a statement late Monday evening. "We thank election officials across the state for their dedication to our system, and for their best efforts to ensure an accurate count of the votes. During the past month, we have seen the incredible strength of our voting system in North Carolina, as well as some serious shortcomings that must be addressed."
Woodhouse said those deficiencies included out-of-precinct voting, vote tallies of known felons and dead people, as well as allowing same-day registrants to vote without address verification.
"It is clear that we need serious bipartisan solutions to address these issues, which will still linger long after the current results are certified," Woodhouse said.
State NAACP president the Rev. William Barber spoke at a rally Monday evening attended by several hundred people outside the old Capitol building, where McCrory keeps an office.
Unofficial results show McCrory trailing Democrat Roy Cooper by more than 9,000 votes. Republicans have filed protests in many counties alleging people were ineligible to vote.
Barber says voters gave McCrory a failing grade for his nearly four years in office and it's time election results are certified. He also threatened mass protests and arrests if the legislature intervened to decide the outcome of the race.
Barber also praised North Carolina voters for their "progressive thinking" in races for attorney general, auditor and the Supreme Court - all won by Democrats.
