By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Thursday, December 28, 2017, the Jefferson County Republican Party released a statement concerning the Roy Moore Lawsuit allegations that he lost the special election due to voter fraud.
“The Jefferson County Republican Party, in cooperation with the Alabama Republican Party and the Moore for Senate Campaign, had trained poll watchers observing the voting process at key precincts in the county during the U.S. Senate Special Election earlier this month,” said Jefferson County GOP Executive Director Jeannie Negron Faherty. “Additionally, observers were present at both the Downtown and Bessemer courthouses during the counting of the absentee ballots, and JeffCoGOP Chairman Sallie Bryant was present at the main courthouse that night during the tabulation of the ballots. Chairman Bryant was also present last week when the write-in votes were counted, and former JeffCoGOP Chairman (and current District 47 Constable) Gilbert Douglas was present for the county’s vote certification last Friday. At no time were there any reports of voter fraud, nor did any of our officials witness anything suspicious in nature.”
Director Faherty’s comments were made in response to allegations by the Judge Roy Moore campaign that the December 12 special election was stolen through voter fraud.
In his lawsuit challenging the election results, Judge Moore released a statement alleging that the election experts, who submitted affidavits in the complaint, agree that the irregularities in 20 precincts of Jefferson County alone are enough to reverse the outcome of the election.
Moore said that he has had three election experts including Richard Charnin submit affidavits in the complaint, agree that the irregularities in 20 precincts of Jefferson County alone are enough to reverse the outcome of the election.
Charnin, who holds three degrees in applied mathematics, and who has written four books on election fraud, calculates the probability of the election results in these precincts happening naturally is “less than one in 15 billion.”
The Moore campaign asked Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill (R) to postpone Thursday’s meeting of the state canvassing board to certify the election. Merrill refused and Doug Jones was certified as the winner of the election for the U.S. Senate seat formerly held by Jeff Sessions.
The election of Jones cuts the Republican majority in the bitterly divided U.S. Senate to 51. The Democrats have 49 seats. The state canvassing board consisted of Merrill, Governor Kay Ivey (R), and Attorney General Steven Marshall (R). The final margin of victory for Jones was 21,924 votes out of over 1.3 million cast.
Despite weakening their majority Senate Republicans refused to help Moore and many actually went on television to denounce Moore and cheer on Jones. GOP Establishment Senator Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, actually donated to Jones’s campaign.
Doug Jones is expected to be sworn in to the Senate on January 3, by Vice President Mike Pence (R).
