N.C poll workers admit they counted votes early
RALEIGH, N.C.— Disarray in the administration of the country’s last undecided congressional election was illustrated Tuesday when three poll workers testified some votes were counted days ahead of Election Day.
North Carolina’s State Board of Elections heard the testimony as part of a hearing that could result in either a new election being called for the 9th District or the Republican candidate being declared the winner.
The testimony came a day after the board heard evidence the election was also marred by falsified signa- tures, disappearing docu- ments, and blank ballots filled in by people hired by the Republican candidate.
The board heard Tuesday from Bladen County poll workers who admitted tallying results on the Saturday before Election Day when early, in-person voting ended.
That’s contrary to proper practice. The poll workers, Agnes Willis and Coy Mitchell Edwards, said that while they and others could see who had the early lead in Bladen County sheriff ’s race, they didn’t tell anyone.
That testimony con- tradicted the account of another poll worker, Michele Maultsby, who said earlier Tuesday that she never saw anyone view the tape listing the voting results that Saturday. Agnes Willis must have made an honest mistake when she said people saw the early voting totals, Maultsby said.
State elections director Kim Strach said investigators didn’t find evidence that anyone else was tipped off early about the vote totals. But the practice of early counting raises questions about the vulnerability of the coun- ty’s voting results.
After the hearing ends, the state board will have to decide whether ballot fraud was unfortunate but toler- able, or whether to order a new election in the con- gressional district that runs from Charlotte through several counties to the east.
Strach testified Monday that a political operative hired by Republican Mark Harris led “a coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme” in last year’s general election in rural Bladen and Robeson counties, which are part of the congressio- nal district, state elections director Kim
The operative, Leslie McCrae Dowless Jr., was called to testify Monday, but his attorney refused to put him on the stand with- out legal protection against prosecution for events he described. The board refused.
The first of what could be a days-long hearing produced Dowless’ workers testifying that they sometimes filled in votes on unfinished, unsealed mail-in ballots. But there was scant evidence that Harris knew about it or even benefited.
Harris narrowly leads Dem- ocrat Dan McCready in unof- ficial results. But the race wasn’t certified in November after rumors of Dowless’ operation focusing on mail-in ballots. The elections board is expected to either declare a winner or order a new elec- tion after the hearing.
Dowless was hired to produce votes for Harris and Bladen County Sheriff Jim McVicker, but his methods last year included paying people to visit potential voters who had received absentee ballots and getting them to hand over those ballots, whether completed or not, Dowless worker Lisa Britt testified Monday.
It’s illegal in North Carolina for anyone other than a guardian or close family member to handle a voter’s ballot because of the risk that it could be altered before being counted.
Britt testified she collected about three dozen sometimes unfinished ballots and handed them to Dowless, who kept them at his home and office for days or longer before they were turned in.