North Carolina certifies election results, securing 15 electoral college votes for Donald Trump

RALEIGH, N.C. -- The North Carolina Board of Elections certified nearly all of the state's votes Tuesday after a meeting among officials.

The group officially certified statewide election results after county counts were already certified by county boards of election. The board also reported there were no COVID-19 cases linked to voting.
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Key takeaways from the meeting:

BOE Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell said there was "75.4% voter turnout in a pandemic, which is remarkable." The 75% voter turnout surpassed the 69% participation seen in November 2016.

The state Supreme Court chief justice race between Republican Paul Newby and Democrat Cheri Beasley is still going through a recount process.

President Donald Trump defeated Democratic nominee Joe Biden by 1.3 percentage points.

Sen. Thom Tillis defeated Democrat Cal Cunningham by a wider margin.

The state saw a record number of registered voters and mail-in votes.

Over 5.5 million of the more than 7.3 million registered voters cast ballots in this year's election.

The official results certification process is usually a formality that does not garner many headlines. In nearly every previous election, the candidates have already conceded or accepted victory by the time the NC Board of Elections certifies the results.

However, 2020 is a year like no other. President Donald Trump continues to refuse to concede the election and cast doubt on its legitimacy.
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He did Tweet on Monday that he was instructing his team to cooperate in the transition of leadership to President-elect Joe Biden and his team.



Five hours later, Trump took to Twitter again. This time baselessly calling the election "the most corrupt election in American political history," and saying he would "never concede to fake ballots."

SEE ALSO: Audit finds 'no significant issues' with election results in North Carolina