Alabama officials certify Doug Jones' win in special US Senate election

"I will be an independent voice and work to find common ground with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle", he added.

John H. Merrill, the Alabama secretary of state, has dismissed complaints, from Democratic and Republican critics, of election fraud.

But Moore's complaint wasn't enough to postpone the certification process.

Moore filed a complaint in Montgomery County Circuit Court late Wednesday asking state officials to delay certification of the December 12 special election until they investigate "all the evidence of potential fraud", which he contends was widespread. "He will be sworn in by Vice President Pence on the third of January when the Senate returns".

The results in Jones' race against Republican challenger Roy Moore were certified today despite a last-minute lawsuit filed by the former Alabama Chief Justice.

In a statement following his victory's certification on Thursday, Jones said he is "looking forward to going to work for the people of Alabama in the new year".

Jones defeated Moore by about 20,000 votes.

He will fill the Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions when Sessions became USA attorney general in the Donald Trump administration early this year.

In a brief meeting Thursday at the Alabama Capitol, the governor, attorney general and secretary of state signed paperwork certifying the final ballot numbers.

During an interview with CNN, Merrill, who voted for Moore, outlined some of the voter fraud claims his office has had to deal with in the weeks that followed Jones's surprise victory and Moore's refusal to concede the race. Luther Strange during a primary earlier this year and was widely expected to win the special election until he was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women, when Moore was in his 30's and the women were as young as 14 years old. The complaint cites conspiracy theorist Richard Charnin as an election expert who said that the chances of the unofficial election results being accurate were "less than one in 15 billion".

Odd lost the Republican primary to former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore.

Moore's complaint also alleged "anomalous" higher voter turnout in Jefferson County, in which census data shows 43% of the population is black.

The complaint also contained an affidavit from Moore "stating that he successfully completed a polygraph test confirming the representations of misconduct made against him during the campaign are completely false".