CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ The investigation into North Carolina's alleged election fraud moved closer to possible resolution Thursday when Gov. Roy Cooper named a new state elections board to oversee the probe of America's last undecided congressional race.
The new State Board of Elections is expected to call for a February hearing into allegations involving the 9th District, though no date has been set. It could certify the election of Republican Mark Harris or order a new election.
The old elections board was dissolved by a court on Dec. 28 over a separate dispute involving its legal structure.
Cooper named Democrats Stella Anderson of Boone, Jeff Carmon of Durham and Bob Cordle of Charlotte as well as Republicans David Black of Concord and Ken Raymond of Winston-Salem. Anderson and Cordle served on previous election boards.
"North Carolinians deserve fair and honest elections, and I am confident this board will work to protect our electoral process," Cooper said in a statement.
The board will oversee an ongoing investigation into alleged absentee ballot fraud in the 9th District. Harris leads Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes in unofficial returns.
Allegations of irregularities surfaced in November when then-board member Josh Malcolm expressed concerns over "unfortunate activities" in the eastern part of the district that runs from Charlotte to Bladen County. Those concerns led the bipartisan board to twice decline to certify Harris' election.
Even without an elections board for the past five weeks, its staff has continued the investigation, gathering thousands of pages of affidavits and other documents.
"The appointments come at an important time for the state board, which is investigating absentee voting irregularities ... and plans an evidentiary hearing on that matter in February to decide whether to certify a winner or order a new election," board spokesman Patrick Gannon told The Charlotte Observer.
After the hearing the board could do one of three things: certify Harris as the winner, order a new election, or deadlock, throwing the election deeper into uncharted territory.
State law requires four votes to order a new election or three to certify Harris' election. That means at least one Republican would have to join the three Democrats in calling a new election, or one Democrat would need to join the two Republicans to certify Harris.
That would delay resolution of a situation that already has left 733,000 North Carolinians without representation in Congress.
"It is not beyond imagination that by a 3-2 vote the board finds that there are sufficient grounds to order a new election, but cannot secure the fourth vote to actually order the election," Bob Joyce, an election law expert at the University of North Carolina's School of Government, wrote in a recent blog.
A deadlock would likely throw the matter to the Democratic-controlled U.S, House, which has final say on its members. At that point the House could declare the seat vacant or launch its own investigation.
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