Moore Alleges Fraud in Jones Win, Tries to Block Certification

Roy Moore is trying to stop Sen.-elect Doug Jones (D-Ala.) from being seated when Congress returns from the holiday recess by claiming fraud led to the Dem’s margin of victory, but the GOP secretary of state is pushing forward with certifying Jones’ win.

The final tally, according to Alabama’s secretary of state, was 671,151 votes for Jones, 650,436 votes for Moore, and 22,780 write-in ballots.

Moore’s campaign filed a complaint Wednesday in the Circuit Court of Montgomery “to preserve evidence of potential election fraud and to postpone the certification of Alabama’s Special Election by Secretary of State John Merrill until a thorough investigation of potential election fraud, that improperly altered the outcome of this election, is conducted,” the campaign said in a statement, citing an a trio of “national Election Integrity experts” who concluded “with a reasonable degree of statistical and mathematical certainty… election fraud occurred.” Only one of those experts is named: Richard Charnin, a mathematician who writes a blog on “JFK conspiracy and systemic election fraud analysis.”

The campaign specifically claimed “irregularities” in 20 precincts in Jefferson County, which includes Birmingham and the suburbs, with 47 percent turnout and 68 percent of the vote for Jones.

The complaint includes “an affidavit from Judge Roy Moore stating that he successfully completed a polygraph test confirming the representations of misconduct made against him during the campaign are completely false,” the campaign said.

Moore called it “appalling that the Democrat Senate Majority PAC and the Republican Senate Leadership Fund both spent millions to run false and malicious ads against me in this campaign.”

“This is not a Republican or Democrat issue as election integrity should matter to everyone,” the former judge said. “We call on Secretary of State Merrill to delay certification until there is a thorough investigation of what three independent election experts agree took place: election fraud sufficient to overturn the outcome of the election.”

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, a Republican, told CNN this morning that Moore’s complaint will not affect the election results. He planned to meet this afternoon with Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey and state Attorney General Steve Marshall to certify the election results.

“We will sign the documents certifying him as the senator for the state of Alabama,” Merrill said. “He will be sworn in by Vice President Pence on January 3 when the Senate returns.”

Jones’ camp replied in a statement, “This desperate attempt by Roy Moore to subvert the will of the people will not succeed. The election is over, it’s time to move on.”