NC elections boss says some absentee ballots handled illegally
Election board may declare a winner or order new election to be called
RALEIGH, N.C. — A Republican operative conducted an illegal and well-funded ballot-harvesting operation, North Carolina’s elections director said Monday, but the first session of a dayslong hearing produced scant evidence that the GOP congressional candidate he worked for knew about it or even benefited.
The director’s testimony came at the opening of a state elections board hearing into whether mail-in ballots were tampered with in the race for the state’s 9th congressional district seat that saw Republican Mark Harris narrowly defeat Democrat Dan McCready.
The race wasn’t certified, leaving the country’s only congressional election without a declared winner. The elections board is expected to either declare a winner or order a new election after the hearing.
“The evidence … will show that a coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme operated in the 2018 general election” in rural Bladen and Robeson counties, state elections director Kim Strach said.
Harris held a slim lead over McCready in unofficial results after November’s election, but the state elections board refused to certify the contest after allegations of potential ballot manipulation surfaced. There wasn’t evidence presented Monday that the election irregularities were so widespread that it would overturn Harris’ 905 vote lead. The hearing will continue today and could continue beyond then.
The investigation targeted a political operative working for Harris’ campaign named Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr.
One witness, Kimberly Sue Robinson, said she turned over her signed, blank ballot to Dowless’ workers in an unsealed envelope. She said she’d done the same thing in previous elections, trusting Dowless would make good choices. The registered Republican’s vote was counted in November’s election.
Dowless was hired to produce votes for Harris and Bladen County Sheriff Jim McVickers, but his methods last year included paying people to visit potential voters and get them to hand over their absentee ballots, completed or not,