The N.C. General Assembly met in Raleigh on Thursday to consider overriding Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of an elections bill, especially a part of the bill he says would add secrecy to campaign finance investigations.

The Republican-controlled N.C. House and Senate are expected to discuss the veto override. The election bill would require new primaries — not a general election — in the disputed 9^th Congressional District should the State Board of Elections & Ethics Enforcement decide a new vote is necessary.

Cooper said he vetoed the bill because it would make future state election board investigations of campaign finance allegations confidential. On Wednesday, Cooper released a statement asking voters to contact representatives and senators and request they negotiate with him and not override his veto.

Meanwhile, the state board has set 10 a.m. Jan. 11, 2019, as a public hearing for the disputed 9^th Congressional District race.

On Dec. 8, the state board decided not to certify the results of the election and hold an evidentiary hearing regarding the voting irregularities. The N.C. Republican Party, on Dec. 17, released a resolution calling on the state board to produce evidence the alleged voting irregularities would have changed the outcome of the race or immediately certify the results.

The unofficial results have Republican Mark Harris with 49.3 percent of the vote to Democrat Dan McCready’s 48.9 percent. Libertarian Jeff Scott has 1.8 percent of the vote.

Harris defeated McCready by about 900 votes on Election Day. Those results have been discredited by allegations that an operative working for the Harris campaign collected, tampered with or even destroyed absentee ballots. The alleged plot is now the subject of a state inquiry. The findings of the state investigation will be presented at the Jan. 11, 2019, hearing.

On Christmas Eve, Joe Bruno, a reporter for WSOC TV, added a new piece to the situation. Three voters testified in sworn affidavits they had filled out their absentee ballots and then gave them to a person who came to their house and promised to deliver the ballots to state officials to be counted. Bruno checked public voting records and found that none of those voters had actually had their ballots counted.

The district’s current representative is Republican Robert Pittenger. The district includes parts or whole counties of Mecklenberg, Anson, Union, Richmond, Scotland, Robeson, Blanden and Cumberland counties.