The North Carolina Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement has voted – for the third time – not to certify the outcome of the election in North Carolina’s 9th congressional district due to “claims of numerous irregularities and concerted fraudulent activities related to absentee mail ballots.”
American Bridge spokesperson Andrew Bates released the following statement: “The shocking discoveries made public in recent days warrant a complete investigation that is free of any partisan interference whatsoever. It is crucial that this election not be tainted by criminal activity, and the allegation that a Bladen County official was on the payroll of Mark Harris’ campaign and stood to be paid a $40,000 bonus if Mark Harris won the county is profoundly disturbing. It is also telling and disappointing that after years of spewing wild-eyed and unsubstantiated theories about voter fraud the Republican Party of North Carolina has rapidly changed its tune as soon as credible evidence of it has emerged.”
THE FACTS:
Sworn affidavits claim a Bladen County official was paid by Harris and would receive a $40,000 bonus if Harris won there
- Multiple Bladen County residents have now signed sworn affidavits stipulating that county official Leslie McCrae Dowless, Jr., who has been implicated in prior allegations of voter fraud, was paid by the Harris campaign. According to one of these affidavits obtained by WSOC-ABC, Dowless was supposed to receive a $40,000 bonus if Harris won Bladen County. A second affidavit reported on by WSOC also indicates that Dowless was working for Harris – specifically concerning absentee ballots – and that Dowless was heard saying, “You know I don’t take checks. They have to pay me cash.”
Additional sworn affidavits describe suspicious visits concerning their absentee ballots
- Several Bladen County voters have signed affidavits stating that they were visited by a young woman who told them she was collecting absentee ballots and gave them guidance with respect to completing and submitting their ballots that raises red flags.
Republican U.S. Representative Robert Pittenger (NC-9) affirms that there are “unsavory people” in Bladen County
- Outgoing Congressman Robert Pittenger, the Republican currently representing North Carolina’s 9th congressional district and who narrowly lost the GOP primary to Harris, told Spectrum News, “There’s some pretty unsavory people out, particularly in Bladen County. And I didn’t have anything to do with them.”
The North Carolina State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement has now voted 3 times not to certify the outcome of the election
- Earlier this week, the state board of elections voted twice, unanimously – including all 4 Republican members – to deny certification of Mark Harris’s win. Today, the board voted yet again, this time 7-2, to continue refusing to certify it.
Published: Nov 30, 2018