Day 13: NC governor’s race unsettled as Cooper plans transition, McCrory team fires back
BY JIM MORRILL
The standoff in the race for North Carolina governor stretched into a 13th day on Monday as Democrat Roy Cooper named a transition team and Gov. Pat McCrory’s campaign accused him of “circumventing the electoral process.”
Meanwhile a Charlotte lawyer has found himself on the hot seat as chairman of the state elections board.
Grant Whitney Jr. will preside over a meeting Tuesday where the board will consider additional ground rules for what’s become a stream of challenges to ballots cast for the Nov. 8 election.
While disputed elections and statewide recounts aren’t unheard of in North Carolina, this one may be unprecedented in the scope of its challenges. McCrory’s team has questioned ballots in more than half the state’s 100 counties.
As counties have counted more votes, Cooper, the attorney general, has seen his lead grow from around 5,000 to at least 6,600.
On Monday he named longtime chief of staff Kristi Jones and Jim Phillips, a Greensboro lawyer and former chair of the UNC Board of Governors, as co-chairs of his transition. Raleigh consultant Ken Eudy, a onetime Charlotte Observer reporter, was named executive director. A new governor takes office Jan. 1.
“The governor-elect wants to be able to start serving on Day 1,” said Cooper spokesman Ford Porter. “It’s the responsible thing to do if you expect to lead.”
Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article116303778.html#storylink=cpy
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