3 NC Republicans sue state GOP over election integrity concerns

Three North Carolina Republicans are suing the state Republican Party over its recent leadership elections, saying a mobile voting application used at the party’s June convention violated the party’s own rules.

The voting app let people who weren’t on the convention floor to vote, producing a questionable count and causing enough problems that the convention adjourned without a planned vote for the party’s vice chairmanship, according to the lawsuit, filed Monday in Wake County Superior Court.

The suit was filed by Raleigh attorney James Lawrence on behalf of Republicans Mike Urben, Andrae DeHaan and Aryn Schloemer.

The complaint notes the Republican Party’s focus on election integrity. And it quotes state party Chairman Michael Whatley as saying election integrity depends on voting machines that don’t connect to the internet and producing paper ballots that can be audited.

But in reelecting Whatley last month, the state party “conducted the vote over the internet and failed to use paper ballots, making an audit impossible,” the lawsuit says.

The suit seeks new elections for state party chair and vice chair and says party leadership has refused to answer concerns about last month’s convention, leaving the plaintiffs no choice but to sue.

State party spokesman Jeff Moore declined to comment on the lawsuit Wednesday, saying the party’s attorneys are reviewing it. Whatley declined an interview request through Moore.

The suit alleges that the party violated its own rules by using the mobile app, which allowed votes to be cast from outside the Greensboro convention floor. Attendees reported multiple problems with the app, and the lawsuit says the program tallied more votes from multiple county delegations than the counties had delegates.

State Rep. Ben Moss, R-Richmond, told WRAL News Wednesday that he voted for Whatley’s opponent, John Kane Jr., in the chairman’s race. He said none of the votes from Richmond County were reported for Kane. Moss suspects his vote was counted with the Rockingham County delegation, because he’s from the city of Rockingham, which is in Richmond County.

“I’m not insinuating anything about the election,” Moss said Wednesday. “I’m not trying to cast stones against Whatley. … My vote did not show up for Richmond County.”

The suit doesn’t allege that Whatley — who was favored for reelection — would have lost if not for problems with the vote. But it says the party ignored its own rules at multiple turns during the convention.

“The record is clear,” the complaint says. “The party repeatedly violated its own Plan of the Organization and Convention Rules during the 2023 Convention.”