Mark Barrett

mbarrett@citizen-times.com

Gov. Pat McCrory's campaign committee said it is filing paperwork Thursday to establish a legal defense fund to accept contributions to support its legal battle over the outcome of North Carolina's gubernatorial election.

“No one knows for sure the outcome of the election, and tens of thousands of ballots remain outstanding and not yet counted,” said Jason Torchinsky, chief legal counsel for the Pat McCrory Committee Legal Defense Fund.

The campaign of Democratic nominee Roy Cooper said Thursday it has hired the general counsel to the Hillary Clinton campaign and two other attorneys to protect Cooper's apparent win.

“We are confident that when the election results are certified it will confirm Tuesday's victory by governor-elect Cooper," said Cooper Campaign Manager Trey Nix. "We expect Governor McCrory to accept the will of voters when the State Board of Elections, chaired by his appointees, certifies those results. In the meantime, the Cooper campaign will work to ensure that every vote is properly counted and to protect the integrity of our democratic process."

Complete but unofficial returns showed Democrat Roy Cooper with 2,281,900 votes to the Republican McCrory's 2,276,921, a difference of 4,979. Libertarian Lon Cecil had 101,050.

Those returns do not include provisional ballots, cast when there is a question about a voter's registration or residence, or absentee ballots mailed on or before the Election Day deadline but not yet received by county boards of elections.

A contribution page for the McCrory fund has been established at patmccrory.com/legaldefense.

Republicans make up a majority of each county election board and the State Board of Elections. County boards will determine official returns in meetings to be held across the state Nov. 18.

Candidates would then have until Nov. 22 to demand recounts. The board must grant them automatically in cases in which the difference between candidates in statewide races is less than 10,000 votes. In other races, the threshold for a recount is a spread of 1 percent between candidates.

The apparent margin of victory in the state auditor's race was a little more than 3,000 votes, with Democratic incumbent Beth Wood ahead of Republican Chuck Stuber. Nancy Nehls Nelson, a Democratic candidate for Buncombe County commissioner, may also be able to demand a recount in her race with incumbent Republican Mike Fryar.

Cooper's campaign is represented by Marc Elias and Kevin Hamilton of international law firm Perkins Coie. Elias worked for the Clinton campaign and had the same role in the 2004 campaign of John Kerry. Edwin Speas, former chief state deputy attorney general, of North Carolina firm Payner Spruill is also a member of the Cooper legal team.

Torchinsky, McCrory's attorney in the matter, is with law firm Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky, which has offices in Washington and northern Virginia. It specializes in election law and government ethics and lobbying matters.

The State Board of Elections has outlined the steps ahead to come to an official count in a memo. It is below:

"1) Absentee ballots. Mail-in absentee ballots postmarked on or before Election Day will be accepted until 5 p.m. on Nov. 14. Overseas and military absentee ballots are accepted through Nov. 17.

"2) Sample Audit. Every county conducts a sample hand-to-eye count of ballots in randomly selected precincts and one-stop locations to confirm results tabulated by machine. Counties must conduct their hand-to-eye counts in public.

"3) Provisional ballot meetings. Each county board of elections will meet before certifying the election to make decisions on provisional applications submitted by voters during early voting and on Election Day. If the board determines that the voter is eligible, the provisional ballot is counted. Provisional ballots are cast when an individual’s registration information does not appear in the poll books or there are other questions about that person’s eligibility to vote.

"4) County canvass. County boards of elections will certify results at public meetings held at 11 a.m. Friday, Nov. 18.

"5) Recounts. For statewide contests this year, the vote difference must be 10,000 votes or less for a candidate to demand a recount after the county canvass. The demand for a recount must be in writing and received by the State Board of Elections no later than noon Tuesday, Nov. 22. If a recount is demanded, the State Board of Elections Office would issue a schedule, and the counties would conduct recounts individually during open meetings. For non-statewide contests, the difference between the candidates must be within 1 percent of the total votes cast in the ballot item.

"6) State canvass. The State Board of Elections will certify statewide results for all federal, statewide, multi-district and judicial contests at a public meeting held at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 29. Results in each contest are not considered official until that date."