Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill threw cold water on Republican Roy Moore’s attempt to postpone certification of the Alabama Senate special election results, saying Democrat Doug Jones will be certified the winner Thursday and sworn in next week.

In an interview on CNN, Merrill, a Republican, was asked whether Moore’s claims of voter fraud had any merit.

“The short answer to that is no,” he said. “Doug Jones will be certified today at 2 p.m. Eastern time, 1 p.m. Central time. The governor, Kay Ivey, our attorney general, Steve Marshall, and I will meet in the office of the secretary of state in the executive office and we will sign the documents certifying him as senator for the state of Alabama. He will be sworn in by Vice President [Mike] Pence on the 3rd of January when the Senate returns.”

CNN's Alisyn Camerota: "Do Roy Moore's claims of election fraud have any merit?" Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill: "The short answer to that is no. Doug Jones will be certified today" https://t.co/ZXkfcsTrAq https://t.co/pQxRhhhYJ7— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) December 28, 2017



Jones defeated Moore in this month’s Senate race to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Moore, however, has yet to concede the race, and his campaign filed a complaint Thursday in an attempt to block certification of the election results.

The conservative judge called for the postponement of Thursday’s certification until an investigation into potential voter fraud is conducted.

Jones’s win marks the first time a Democrat has won a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama in more than two decades.