and the upshot of this court battle over republicans democracy defying power grab two years ago is just now, today a court ordered the state elections board dissolved. so right in the middle of this investigation into this still up in the air congressional race, less than a week before the new congress convenes in washington, as of noon today, there is no more north carolina state board of elections. and as that board goes up in smoke, the position of mark harris and the north carolina republican party appears to have solidified into outright opposition to any further investigation. even though earlier this month they were expressing concern about fraud and saying they were open to new election, today north carolina republicans are demanding that mark harris be seated in the new congress next week, saying that he was duly elected, and that there will never be a new election. well, governor cooper announced today he will appoint an interim board of elections to continue
appoint five new members, and how do the republicans react? if governor cooper just went ahead and made the appointment, what could republicans do about it? if they re refusing to participate in the board, and the governor says, well, i m going to use my executive authority to see that the laws are faithfully executed, what could republicans in the legislature even do about it? well, that s a good question. i don t think we quite know. there have been threats of lawsuits filed. this whole fiasco has been legally bound. the courts have been interjected into this process. so i would not be surprised if we didn t end up before another three-judge panel in regards to a potential interim board. the legislature can always come back into session and try and, you know, establish an interim board or some kind of contingency before the official board takes control at the end of january. again, we re just kind of waiting to see who plays the next part in this game and how
professional staff and hold their own hearings and inquiry into it. now, representative steny hoyer did indicate that he would only go for a general election, but the state statute here in north carolina says filling a vacancy for a u.s. house election would require a new primary as well. and that s a battle line that you see both democrats and republicans arguing over as well. so, there are so many moving parts and layers to this that i don t think we quite legally know where things are going to play out until more movement is done by somebody at some point. wow. i think this technically qualifies as a hot mess. michael bitzer, professor and leading analyst for this fascinating north carolina store/hot mess. thank you very much. appreciate your time. my pleasure. thank you. and still ahead, a new year does not always mean a fresh start. more on that ahead. stay with us.
didn t say anything necessarily about whether the irregularities would overturn the previous decision and the votes in the majority, but now we re kind of operating in legal no-man s land. some would argue that the governor s power to fill vacancies does exist and that he would be able to create this interim state board of elections that would carry on until january 31st when the new board, which was voted yesterday by an override of his veto would go into effect. republicans in the legislature contend there is no state board of elections because the previous law, the statute, was struck down as unconstitutional. so we re kind of in uncharted legal territory. both sides are going to be making their arguments, and i think we re just going to have to watch and see what the dominoes are in terms of, does the governor go ahead and
well, governor cooper announced today he will appoint an interim board of elections to continue the 9th district investigations, republicans said that they would refuse to participate. which prompted cooper to send this letter to the chair of the state republican party today saying, basically, you can t tell me what to do. quote, the governor s lawyer writes the governor will not be impeded from exercising his duties under the constitution to take care that the laws are faithfully executed. the governor will also not permit your obstructionist tactics to stall an ongoing investigation. one is compelled to conclude that you are withholding your nominations and encouraging people not to serve, solely for the purpose of impeding and obstructing the 9th congressional district investigation. maybe they were hoping if they created enough chaos and got the elections stopped and doubled down on their candidate, then seating mark harris would seem like a foregone, inevitable