Pat McCrory files for recount in governor’s race

RALEIGH, NC (WWAY) – Gov. Pat McCrory has officially filed for a statewide recount of votes from the Nov. 8 election.

According to a news releases from McCrory’s campaign, the Republican joined Chuck Stuber, a candidate for state auditor, in officially filing for a statewide recount this morning. The news release said the “recount was filed to meet the original date statutorily specified, although the formal recount will not occur until after the county boards of election certify their results.”

“With many outstanding votes yet to be counted for the first time, legal challenges, ballot protests and voter fraud allegations, we must keep open the ability to allow the established recount process to ensure every legal vote is counted properly,” McCrory’s campaign manager Russell Peck said.

Click here to read the Governor’s recount letter.

Yesterday, Democrat Roy Cooper declared himself governor-elect and announced a transition team.

“This is nothing but a last-ditch effort from Gov. McCrory to delay and deny the results of this election,” Cooper’s campaign manager Trey Nixon said today in an e-mailed statement. “Roy Cooper leads by 8,569 votes – a number that is growing daily as counties finalize election results. We are confident that a recount will do nothing to change the fact that Roy Cooper has won this election.”

Meanwhile, a conservative group has filed a lawsuit saying North Carolina cannot finish tallying its close governor’s race until it verifies the residency of thousands of voters who used same-day registration.

The head of the Civitas Institute is asking a federal court to require that the state Board of Elections refrain from certifying election results until it has completed verification of same-day registrants.

North Carolina law allows people to register and cast a ballot on the same day during the early voting period by offering proof of their address.

The lawsuit says North Carolina law requires election officials to check the residency of same-day registrants by sending them mail and seeing if it comes back returned. Since state elections board guidelines indicate that 30 days should be allowed for the mailing process, the lawsuit says the overall tallying of votes can’t be finished before December 7.