The Latest: Judge weighs deciding disputed N Carolina race

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Latest on a North Carolina congressional race where a winner hasn’t been finalized while an absentee ballot fraud investigation continues (all times local):

11:45 a.m.

A North Carolina judge is considering whether he must order the victory of the Republican in the country’s last undecided congressional race despite an investigation into whether his lead was boosted by illegal vote-collection tactics.

Superior Court Judge Paul Ridgeway said Tuesday that he’s unclear why Republican Mark Harris’ lawyers insist he decide the winner when he doesn’t know what investigators found.

Harris narrowly leads Democrat Dan McCready in the 9th District race. There are allegations that mail-in ballots could have been altered or discarded by a Harris subcontractor.

The state elections board was disbanded by an unrelated court order last month, and a new one takes over in nine days.

Harris’s attorneys say the judge should step in because the district’s residents urgently need a representative in Washington, D.C.

___

12 a.m.

A North Carolina judge is considering a demand to order the victory of the Republican in the country’s last undecided congressional race despite an investigation into whether his lead was boosted by illegal vote-collection tactics.

A trial judge in the state’s capital of Raleigh hears arguments Tuesday in a lawsuit by Republican Mark Harris, who narrowly led Democrat Dan McCready in the 9th District race before the investigation started.

Lawyers for McCready and the state elections board want the lawsuit dismissed. They say a completed investigation and planned evidentiary hearing is needed into allegations that mail-in ballots could have been altered or discarded by a Harris subcontractor.

Democrats in the U.S. House indicate they’ll also to look into the allegations.