Roy Moore filed an election complaint late Wednesday, claiming voter fraud altered the outcome of Alabama’s Senate race, paving the way for Democrat Doug Jones’ victory.
The Moore campaign said in a statement that the purpose of the complaint is to delay the certification of the election results until “a thorough investigation of potential election fraud, that improperly altered the outcome of this election, is conducted.”
The request came just a day before the State Canvassing Board is scheduled to meet and certify the results of the election.
“This is not a Republican or Democrat issue as election integrity should matter to everyone,” Moore 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.”
The statement cites three Election Integrity experts saying that “with a reasonable degree of statistical and mathematical certainty … election fraud occurred” and noted the irregularities in 20 precincts alone could reverse the results of the election.
According to the results from earlier this month, the Republican candidate lost the election to Jones by a margin of 21,000 votes. Jones became the first Democrat in over two decades to win a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama, the deep-red state that Trump carried by about 28 points during the 2016 presidential election.
The election complaint also includes an affidavit from Moore saying that he underwent a polygraph test and confirmed that the allegations of sexual misconduct with underage girls are “completely false.”
Moore’s reluctance to concede the election prompted an intervention by President Donald Trump, who backed the Republican candidate, urging him to concede the election.
"I think he should (concede)," Trump said earlier this month. "I want to support the person running. We need the seat. We'd like to have the seat."