The last-minute effort by Republican Roy Moore to challenge the Senate special election results from December 12 will not alter the outcome, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said Thursday.
Democrat Doug Jones, who defeated Moore 49.9 percent to 48.4 percent, will be certified as the next senator from the state, he said.
And Moore’s election complaint, charging that rampant voter fraud “[overturned] the outcome of the election," won’t change that.
"What you were asking me is will this affect anything. The short answer to that is no," Merrill said in an interview with CNN's Alisyn Camerota.
"Doug Jones will be certified at 2 p.m. Eastern Time, 1 p.m. Central Time,” he added. “We will sign the documents certifying him as the senator for the state of Alabama. He will be sworn in by Vice President Pence on the 3rd of January when the Senate returns."
Citing the voter fraud allegations, Moore demanded the certification be delayed "until a thorough investigation of potential election fraud, that improperly altered the outcome of this election, is conducted."
The issue of election integrity “is not a Republican or Democrat issue” but one that “should matter to everyone," Moore said in a statement his campaign released.
When asked about Moore’s allegations, Merrill explained his office looked into more than 60 complaints but did not say whether anything significant was found.
He did, however, tell Camerota about one completely unfounded complaint that a town named Borderlama had 5,000 people vote even though it only has a population of 2,000. Merrill explained Alabama has no town named Borderlama.
A spokesman for Jones’s campaign dismissed Moore’s last-ditch effort Thursday, saying, "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.”
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