GOP lawmaker on Moore election challenge: ‘It’s ridiculous’

GOP Rep. Leonard Lance (R-N.J.) says Roy Moore should concede in the Senate race after the Alabama Republican filed an election complaint calling on state officials to delay certifying Democrat Doug Jones the winner in order to investigate potential voter fraud.

“I think it is ridiculous and I am sure the authorities will certify the election,” Lance said Thursday on CNN’s “New Day.”

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“I’m a strong Republican, but I did not support Roy Moore. And he should concede the election,” the New Jersey lawmaker added.

Moore submitted an election complaint late Wednesday, calling on Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill to investigate claims of voting “irregularities” that could’ve tipped the scales in the race.

Moore in the court filing urges Merrill to postpone a Thursday meeting with other state officials, in which they are expected sign off on the victory of Jones, the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in the normally reliable Republican state in decades. 

“The purpose of the complaint is 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,” Moore’s campaign said in a statement.

A defiant Moore has refused to concede defeat to Jones after the election concluded on Dec. 12, even after President Trump urged him to accept the election results.

Merrill told CNN later Thursday that Doug Jones would be certified as the winner.

The Republican’s campaign became dogged by sexual misconduct allegations, with several women accusing Moore of engaging in sexual encounters with them while they were teenagers and he was in his 30s.

Moore, who has repeatedly denied the allegations of wrongdoing, said he completed a polygraph test after the election to prove the accusations were false.  

Lance said he agrees with Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the senior senator from the state, in not supporting Moore and says he would have written “a name in if I had been an Alabama resident.”

Shelby publicly came out against the Republican candidate over the allegations shortly before the election concluded, saying he would write in a name on the ballot rather than support Moore.