RALEIGH -- Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Equality North Carolina once again called on Pat McCrory to concede. Instead of accepting the fact that voters rejected his bid for re-election, McCrory launched an all-out effort to throw the integrity of the election into question by lodging baseless voter protests in more than half of the state’s 100 counties. Last night, the Republican-controlled State Board of Elections issued an order requiring dismissal of all 52 of those protests. The latest vote tallies show McCrory nearly 10,000 votes behind Roy Cooper.

“Governor-elect Roy Cooper is the clear winner of this race, and it’s far past time for Pat McCrory to stop his desperate attempts to undermine the will of the voters,” said HRC President Chad Griffin. “McCrory is nearly 10,000 votes behind, and the Republican controlled State Board of Elections has rejected all of his last-ditch efforts to sabotage the outcome of this election. Enough is enough. Move on, McCrory.”

“Pat McCrory is refusing to accept, what can now only be called, the inevitable Roy Cooper victory,” said Equality North Carolina Executive Director Chris Sgro. “We are calling on McCrory once again to accept the election results and concede. Instead of being wrapped up in the baseless schemes put forth by McCrory, North Carolina must begin to repair the damage he left behind as soon as possible. This is a waste of time and resources that our great state desperately needs elsewhere. It's time to move on.”

With a stunning 66 percent of North Carolina voters reporting opposition to HB2 in exit polling, it’s clear that HB2 cost McCrory his re-election bid.  In 2012, McCrory was elected with an 11 percent margin of victory. Not only did the discriminatory HB2 cost him his re-election, it also dragged down several state candidates.

Between August and Election Day, TurnOUT NC -- a project of the Human Rights Campaign and Equality North Carolina -- held more than 260 get-out-the-vote events in Charlotte and Raleigh on behalf of HRC and ENC endorsed candidates. TurnOUT NC communicated to members and supporters through targeted social media, door-knocking, phone calls, direct mail, text message alerts and email alerts. The TurnOUT NC program generated more than 24 million impressions online to members and supporters encouraging them to vote for pro-equality candidates. HRC and ENC also released a series of ads targeting pro-equality voters, including “Lennie & Pearl for Roy Cooper” and “Pat McCrory: Bad for Business.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer equality. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.

Equality NC is a statewide organization working to secure equal rights and justice for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender North Carolinians. For more information, please visit www.equalitync.org

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