RALEIGH (AP) — The Latest on efforts to count the ballots in North Carolina’s gubernatorial contest (all times local):

 

1:45 p.m.

North Carolina’s Republican Gov. Pat McCrory has begun the process of asking for a recount in his close race even though votes are still being tallied.

McCrory’s campaign said in a news release Tuesday that it filed for recount in his race against Democrat Roy Cooper.

Most counties have yet to complete their counts. McCrory’s campaign acknowledged the recount won’t occur until counties finish those tallies, but they wanted to ensure they didn’t miss a deadline under state law.

Counties were originally supposed to finish their counts by Friday. Recount requests must normally be filed by the second business day after those county reviews.

The counting process has been slowed down by factors including Republican-led challenges.

The trailing candidate is entitled to a recount if he’s behind by fewer than 10,000 votes. Cooper led by more than 6,000 votes Tuesday afternoon.

 

11:10 a.m.

A conservative group has filed a lawsuit saying North Carolina can’t finish tallying its close governor’s race until it verifies the residency of thousands of voters who used same-day registration.

The head of the Civitas Institute is asking a federal court to require that the state Board of Elections refrain from certifying election results until it has completed verification of same-day registrants.

North Carolina law allows people to register and cast a ballot on the same day during the early voting period by offering proof of their address.

The lawsuit says North Carolina law requires election officials to check the residency of same-day registrants by sending them mail and seeing if it comes back returned. Since state elections board guidelines indicate that 30 days should be allowed for the mailing process, the lawsuit says the overall tallying of votes can’t be finished before December 7.

 

10:40 a.m.

About two dozen protesters stood outside the entrance of a building hosting the latest State Board of Elections hearing on contested ballots in the North Carolina’s governor’s race.

The hearing started promptly at 10 a.m. Tuesday. Although the board said it would not hear comments from the public during Tuesday’s meeting, the conference room was filled with spectators listening to the early testimony.

Roger Knight, an attorney for Republican Gov. Pat McCrory, opened the hearing by presenting recent examples of voter irregularities that could apply in his race with Democratic challenger Roy Cooper.

 

5 a.m.

North Carolina election officials still working on final vote tallies for governor two weeks after Election Day are getting some advice on whether certain ballots should be counted or thrown out.

The State Board of Elections scheduled a meeting Tuesday to hear from the state Democratic and Republican parties and their gubernatorial candidate campaigns.

The board wants to provide legal guidance to county election boards hearing formal complaints about early votes by people who died before Election Day or may have voted in multiple states. Also at issue are more than 300 ballots that state officials say may have been cast by convicted felons across the state during early voting.

The questions are important as Democrat Roy Cooper still holds a narrow lead over Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.