Roy Moore Sues To Stop Election Certification

The New York Times reports:

Roy S. Moore, the first Republican to lose a United States Senate race in Alabama in 25 years, moved late Wednesday to block state officials from certifying the victory of his Democratic rival on Thursday afternoon because of “systematic voter fraud.”

In a complaint filed in the circuit court here in Alabama’s capital, Mr. Moore’s campaign argued that such fraud had tainted the Dec. 12 special election, which Mr. Moore lost to Doug Jones by fewer than 22,000 votes, and that the Alabama authorities had inadequately investigated claims of misconduct.

If the election is prematurely certified, Mr. Moore’s lawyers wrote, he will “suffer irreparable harm” and be “denied his full right as a candidate to a fair election.”

More from NBC News:



The Alabama State Canvassing Board is scheduled to meet Thursday afternoon to certify Jones’ victory. But the Moore campaign filed a complaint late Wednesday night in state circuit court in Montgomery, the state capital, seeking a temporary restraining order to postpone the certification, alleging “potential election fraud that improperly altered the outcome of this election.”

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill told The Associated Press on Wednesday evening that he has no intention of delaying the canvassing board meeting. “It is not going to delay certification and Doug Jones will be certified (Thursday) at 1 p.m. and he will be sworn in by Vice President Pence on the third of January,” Merrill said.

Moore’s statement gives few details of the purported irregularities, which it says were substantiated “with a reasonable degree of statistical and mathematical certainty” by three election experts.