North Carolina election fraud allegations: Investigators zero in on absentee ballots in Bladen County

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/elections/north-carolina-investigators-zero-absentee-ballots-unresolved-house-race-n944731

Dec. 6, 2018 / 10:37 AM EST / Updated 1:11 PM EST
By Leigh Ann Caldwell and Rich Gardella

Pressure is increasing on North Carolina to find a resolution to the unresolved congressional race in the state’s 9th District as allegations of election irregularities and fraudulent activities continue to surface.

State investigators are combing through election board records in several counties to discover whether there was an organized effort to unlawfully collect the absentee ballots of thousands of voters and then not turn those ballots over to election authorities.

They are especially interested in Bladen County, a rural, low-income area in the southeastern part of the state where investigators are looking at several individuals who turned in requests for absentee ballots on behalf of hundreds of voters.

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The Charlotte Observer’s editorial board Wednesday called for the state to hold a new election, while Rep. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, a top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said the committee should investigate.

North Carolina GOP executive director Dallas Woodhouse said Thursday that the party supports the state investigation. "If they can show with certainty that the outcome could not have been changed, they need to certify Mr. Harris and continue to support all state and federal criminal investigations," he said.

"If they can show a substantial likelihood it could have changed the race, then we fully would support a new election" Woodhouse added.

Meanwhile, some voters in the district are now speaking out, with personal accounts about how their absentee ballots were unlawfully collected.

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https://www.cnn.com/2018/12/06/politics/north-carolina-democrat-dan-mccready-withdraws-concession/index.html

Democrat Dan McCready withdraws concession in North Carolina House race amid fraud allegations
By Eric Bradner, CNN
Updated 9:35 PM ET, Thu December 6, 2018

Democrat Dan McCready is withdrawing his concession in a North Carolina congressional race where investigators are probing allegations of election fraud.

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His reversal comes as the state elections board, as well as local and state prosecutors, investigate whether Leslie McCrae Dowless, a veteran operative in Bladen County who was hired by a consulting firm the Harris campaign paid $400,000, altered absentee ballots or collected them from voters but never turned them in.
Dowless earned more than $23,000 working on six campaigns dating back to 2010, and in most of those races, Dowless' candidates received a disproportionately higher percentage of absentee votes in Bladen County.

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