NC-09: 48 subpoenas (and NO ONE to serve them)

Hillary Clinton’s lawyer has stepped up to represent Dan McCready (D) in the political sideshow currently engulfing the Ninth Congressional District.  Marc Elias has written to former state board of elections chairman Josh Malcolm to lay out his need for 48 subpoenas to be issued to witnesses ahead of the January 11 “vote fraud” hearing.

The  most notable names on Elias’s list are Dallas Woodhouse and Robin Hayes.  Elias claims Hayes knows something about electoral shenanigans in the race.  (Personally, I don’t think Hayes is aware of what’s happening inside NCGOP HQ — much less inside the Mark Harris campaign.) 

Notice that I emphasized the word former in talking about Malcolm.  The state board which he was chairing has been disbanded by court order.  Legislation approved by the General Assembly, vetoed by the governor and overridden by the legislature wipes out the board of elections — as it was constructed during  Malcolm’s tenure — and calls for a new board to be seated on January 31. 

Governor Roy Cooper announced that he would get around that bump in the road by appointing an “interim” board of Democrats and Republicans.  The NCGOPe, apparently having located their man parts. countered by saying that they would not cooperate with anything that deviates from the court order disbanding the old board or the vetoed-but-overturned legislation approved by the General Assembly.  The other side has Hillary’s high-powered DC attorney.  The NCGOPe is being repped in this matter by John Lewis. (NOT the civil rights guy.  The guy who lost the NCGOP vice-chairman’s race to Michele Nix.

In the wake of all this, there is an interesting question raised.  WHO would issue and serve the subpoenas Elias  wants for the January 11 hearing?  The elections board is disbanded. The relevant legislation says a new board shall  not be seated until January 31.