Voters, NC board: Cawthorn candidate challenge should remain

By GARY D. ROBERTSON
Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina election officials and some voters who challenged Rep. Madison Cawthorn’s candidate qualifications say the formal effort to evaluate his eligibility should be allowed to continue. They filed motions in federal court on Monday opposing the first-term Republican’s efforts to cancel the challenge process. The voters say Cawthorn fails to comply with the portion of a post-Civil War amendment to the Constitution pertaining to insurrections because of his involvement in the January 2021 rally that preceded the U.S. Capitol riot. Cawthorn says he’s never engaged in an insurrection. The latest court filings say the challenge process is constitutional and doesn’t harm Cawthorn.