Doug Stanglin

USATODAY

North Carolina's outgoing Republican governor, Pat McCrory, has signed into law a bill passed by the GOP-dominated legislature that would strip the incoming Democratic governor of some of his authority and water down his party's control over election boards.

Democratic lawmakers, backed by noisy protesters who flooded state house galleries over two days, blasted the quick passage of the new measures as a "coup" and "power grab" aimed at hobbling Roy Cooper, the current attorney general, who takes office as governor on Jan. 1.

McCrory, who lost his re-election bid to Cooper, a Democrat, by 10,000 votes, signed the elections board bill Friday afternoon, according to the Associated Press, citing documents from the General Assembly.

The new law merges the State Board of Elections and State Ethics Commission into one board made up equally of Democrats and Republicans. The old law would have allowed Cooper to put a majority of Democrats on the elections panel. The law also makes elections for appellate court judgeships officially partisan again.

In a final twist, the elections bill gives the Court of Appeals, which is dominated by Republicans, a role in constitutional challenges to laws, such as those just passed in the session.

McCrory has not yet indicated whether he would sign an additional bill that would make Cooper’s appointment of Cabinet officials subject to approval by the state Senate and reduce the number of appointees who serve at the pleasure of the governor from 1,500 to 425, The Charlotte Observer reports.

The bill would also block the governor from appointing members of the boards of trustees for University of North Carolina schools.

The measures were passed by the legislature at a special session called immediately after the close of another two-day special session convened to deal with Hurricane Matthew disaster relief.

Democrats said it was an attempt by the GOP to cling to power a week after the Republican incumbent conceded. "I really fear that we have harmed our reputation and integrity this week," said Rep. Billy Richardson, a Democrat.

N.C. gov.-elect threatens to sue GOP legislature over proposals aimed to take power

At least 39 protesters were arrested Friday at the Legislative Building, the Observer reports. At least two others were led away after the Senate was disrupted as Lt. Gov. Dan Forest told crowds in the gallery to be quiet.

The uproar came one day after some 200 demonstrators — some shouting "You work for us" — interrupted a special session of the state's General Assembly, leading to the arrests of 17 people, including civic leaders, university staff and faculty and clergy.

Cooper has threatened to sue to challenge the new measures. "What's happening now may look like partisan political games but the result could hurt North Carolinians," Cooper said Thursday.

Cooper ran on a platform of defeating Republicans' agenda, saying he would work to repeal a law known as House Bill 2 that limits LGBT rights.

"Once more, the courts will have to clean up the mess the legislature made, but it won't stop us from moving North Carolina forward," Cooper said in a statement late Friday.

Republicans rejected the Democrat's complaints, saying some of those measures had been discussed for years.

Rep. Nelson Dollar, a Republican, said that all the steps were legal and noted that Democrats, for decades, used every tactic they could to keep the minority party under their thumb, the Observer reports.

“This isn’t mob rule,” Dollar said. “It’s majority rule. ... This is no coup. Every member was elected in a constitutional way.”

Republicans gained power of both legislative chambers in 2010 for the first time in more than a century, and they have veto-proof majorities, holding 108 of 170 seats even though the state has been more closely divided in recent statewide and federal elections.

GOP legislators have been able to expand their majorities thanks to approving redistricting maps in 2011. But nearly 30 of those legislative districts were struck down last summer. A federal court has directed updated maps be approved by March 15.

North Carolina is a presidential battleground state that Barack Obama won in 2008 by just over 14,000 votes. Four years later, Mitt Romney edged Obama by about 92,000 votes. Donald Trump won in November.

Contributing: WCNC-TV, Charlotte; The Associated Press