FILE - Int his May 8, 2018 file photo, Ninth Congressional district Democratic candidate Dan McCready smiles outside Eastover Elementary School in Charlotte, N.C. The North Carolina board investigating allegations of ballot fraud in a still-unresolved congressional race between McCready and Republican Mark Harris could be disbanded Friday, Dec. 28 under a state court ruling in a protracted legal battle about how the panel operates. The state Elections Board has refused to certify the race between Harris and McCready while it investigates absentee ballot irregularities in the congressional district stretching from the Charlotte area through several counties to the east. Harris holds a slim lead in unofficial results, but election officials are looking into criminal allegations against an operative hired by the Harris campaign. (Jeff Siner/The Charlotte Observer via AP, File)
  • Election 2018 North Carolina
  • Mark Harris

RALEIGH, N.C. | The Republican in the nation’s last undecided congressional race is asking a North Carolina court to require that he be declared the winner because the now-defunct state elections board didn’t act.

A lawsuit Mark Harris filed Thursday claims the disbanded elections board had been declared unconstitutional, so its investigation into alleged ballot fraud by an operative hired by the Harris campaign was invalid.

The elections board was dissolved on Friday by state judges who in October declared its form unconstitutional but allowed investigations to continue. A revamped board takes effect Jan. 31.

Harris asks a trial-court judge to order the state elections director to certify the Republican as the winner.

Harris was being interviewed by state investigators Thursday, as all other U.S. House winners are sworn into office in Washington.