Officials of the state of Alabama certified Democrat Doug Jones the winner of the Dec. 12 Senate race Thursday after a judge rejected his opponent Roy Moore's last-minute attempt to block the certification.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said Jones will be sworn in as the state's next senator on Jan. 3.

Moore filed a lawsuit Wednesday in the Circuit Court of Montgomery County, Alabama, calling for an investigation into what Moore claimed was possible voter fraud and asked for a delay in Jones' certification.

But Montgomery Circuit Judge Johnny Hardwick denied that attempt Thursday, and Jones was certified later in the day.



“This is not a Republican or Democrat issue as election integrity should matter to everyone,” Moore said in a statement, calling on the secretary of state to "delay certification until there is a thorough investigation of what three independent election experts agree took place: election fraud sufficient to overturn the outcome of the election.”

Merrill has said his office has found no evidence of voter fraud, but that he will investigate any official complaint. He added that Alabama had received around 100 reports of voter fraud and that about 60 of them had already been adjudicated.



Moore claims that three election integrity experts concluded that “with a reasonable degree of statistical and mathematical certainty … election fraud occurred.”