Electioneering confirmed in NC 9th district race

[Brubear]

The elections board has confirmed that unlawful balloting occurred in the 9th district election. Dowless, the man accused of overseeing the unlawful balloting maintains his innocence and the hearing will continue tomorrow, but the executive director of the state election board confirmed that they'd uncovered an unlawful electioneering scheme. What will be really interesting is what their ultimate decision is (whether to call a new election or to certify the results). Currently, they've counted a total of 1,019 ballots that were handled by Dowless and his team, which is more than the 905-vote lead Republican Harris currently holds over Democrat McCready. Given the potential for all of those ballots to have been tampered with, that easily casts doubt on enough votes to exceed the current margin of victory, which would make it very hard to justify certifying the results of the election. I will also be curious to see just how much of Dowless' scheme Harris was aware of (or at least, how much can be proven that he knew about).

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKCN1Q70XH

RALEIGH, N.C. (Reuters) - A Republican operative directed an unlawful absentee ballot scheme in North Carolina’s 9th congressional district and tried to hide the evidence, an election official said on Monday at a hearing that could lead to a new vote in the disputed contest.

But the U.S. House of Representatives seat has remained vacant, with state officials refusing to certify Harris as the winner due to accusations of election fraud in two counties in the district.

Kim Strach, executive director of the state election board, on Monday said investigators had uncovered a “coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme” orchestrated by a political operative working for Harris.

Strach said operative Leslie McCrae Dowless hired workers to collect absentee ballot requests from voters and then return to retrieve the ballots, in violation of state law.

In some instances, the paid workers falsely signed as witnesses and filled in votes for races left blank at Dowless’s home or office, Strach said.

Dowless attended the hearing in Raleigh but declined to testify voluntarily after the board said it would deny him immunity.

Dowless’s lawyer, Cynthia Adams Singletary, said afterward that “he hasn’t done anything wrong.” Harris has said he was unaware of any wrongdoing.

Lisa Britt, who worked for Dowless on the absentee ballots, testified that he instructed his workers to fill in responses for races left blank to avoid “red flags” with the local elections board. She said she was not told how to vote in those races.

“What I would do is vote for whoever was the Republican,” she said.

Britt also said Dowless tried to prevent her from testifying at Monday’s hearing by asking her to invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Investigators found Dowless sought to avoid detection by instructing those who worked for him to deliver ballots in small batches to a post office close to the voters and to ensure the same color ink was used for the voter and false witness signatures, Strach said.

Dowless and his workers handled at least 788 ballot requests in Bladen County and 231 in Robeson County, the two counties at the center of the state probe, Strach said.

Voter Kimberly Sue Robinson testified that she returned a blank, unsealed ballot to Dowless representatives.

“I was told if I didn’t fill it out, it would get filled out for me,” Robinson said.

Under state law, the five-member elections board can call a new election if the number of contested votes would sway the original election or if the “irregularities or improprieties occurred to such an extent that they taint the results of the entire election and cast doubt on its fairness.”

Alternatively, the board could certify Harris as the district’s congressional representative.

Republicans have pushed for that outcome, while Democrats want a new election. The hearing resumes on Tuesday.

If the Democrats pick up the seat, they would widen their 235-197 majority in the House after taking control of the chamber from President Donald Trump’s fellow Republicans in the Nov. 6 election.

[Zaydin]

Well the North Carolina GOP won't like this result. Will make their calls for the fraudster to be seated harder to take seriously.

[yetgdhfgh]

You see the GOP will claim there is election shenanigans and will call for more ID checks and for more ID laws and just sweep under the carpet that it was there side that was doing it!

[Orbitus]

You see the GOP will claim there is election shenanigans and will call for more ID checks and for more ID laws and just sweep under the carpet that it was there side that was doing it!

Even though what was happening here, wouldn't be effected by the ID laws. Most of the fraud surrounding elections, wouldn't be effected by ID laws. Absentee voter fraud, absentee balloters also voting in person after voting by absentee ballot, pollsters not filing ballots properly, pollsters intimidating voters telling them who to vote for, intentionally not counting votes like in Florida in 2000, etc.

[yetgdhfgh]

Even though what was happening here, wouldn't be effected by the ID laws. Most of the fraud surrounding elections, wouldn't be effected by ID laws. Absentee voter fraud, absentee balloters also voting in person after voting by absentee ballot, pollsters not filing ballots properly, pollsters intimidating voters telling them who to vote for, intentionally not counting votes like in Florida in 2000, etc.

I know but when they win they win, when they draw they win and when they lose they win.

Trust me this will be turned around and used to there advantage!

[Mihalik]

It's election fraud so they can stop election fraud...#logic

[s_bushido]

But let’s not make any changes to election law. It doesn’t matter how many times gaps in the system are exposed or how many times claims of disenfranchisement through identity requirements (the same requirement in most western democracies) are debunked and proven to be false.

"Look guys, if you don't change these laws, we're just going to keep exploiting them while complaining about a problem that we're causing ourselves."

Impeccable logic.

[Felya]

No, I just don’t think a cable bill is sufficient evidence to vote. Rational people don’t either, and it’s the standard in most of the western world. That this particular instance of wrong doing was done by a GOP operative is meaningless to me. I care about the integrity of the system. It’s clear you don’t. And you have nothing to support that requiring ID prevents citizens from voting in any statistically significant fashion.

I want voting to be accessible to everyone who registers to vote. But the idea that an ID is a burden on anyone in 2019 is a fucking absurd lie.

What integrity, when you are trying to argue ID, at a time when election officials are caught fixing ballots? Even Russian hackers knew to steal 500000 voter registration records. If that were not enough, you are talking about absentee ballots, which has fuck all to do with IDs.

[Noxx79]

No, I just don’t think a cable bill is sufficient evidence to vote. Rational people don’t either, and it’s the standard in most of the western world. That this particular instance of wrong doing was done by a GOP operative is meaningless to me. I care about the integrity of the system. It’s clear you don’t. And you have nothing to support that requiring ID prevents citizens from voting in any statistically significant fashion.

I want voting to be accessible to everyone who registers to vote. But the idea that an ID is a burden on anyone in 2019 is a fucking absurd lie.

Why are you talking about voter id? It would have done nothing here
Are you that stupid to realize that there’s no poll workers standing at mailboxes?

You’re pretty pathetic. Cone up with an actual solution to real fraud, not an imaginary solution to imaginary fraud.

[Felya]

Why are you talking about voter id? It would have done nothing her.

After what seems like a decade of GOP pretending it’s why they cannot win the popular vote? Even with Pennsylvania state legislator, at a podium, announcing that voter ID would win them the state?

It’s like discussing the logistics of in person voter fraud and the nature of voter registration, in context of voter ID. Those things are irrelevant, because this has to work. I’m thinking the ‘democrats are pissy they didn’t think to do it them selfs’ argument, will hit by page 5.

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I don’t know about your state, but when I voted absentee in mine I was required to provide my driver’s license number in addition to my DOB, address and signature. It wouldn’t be difficult to compare this information when it’s being scanned. Any significant deviations could then have human eyes compare the signature on the ballot to the one on file.

Yes, that’s voter registration. You are not arguing that ID is required during voter registration. I vote absentee... I drop my envelope in the mail box. I assure you, no one IDs me when I take the panflit from my mail box, while it lays in the kitchen, nor when I fill it out and drop it in the mailbox.

Again, to stress this, since bold wasn’t enough. You are describing voter registration. There is a very obvious reason, one you your self described, that voter registration isn’t argued in needing a voter ID. It already had that prerequisite. Every person voting has completed that prerequisite, regardless if voting in person or absentee.

So... Since you agree that voter registration is enough... what’s with voter ID bullshit?

You’re concerned about absentee ballots, but you reject any control designed to add confidence to the legitimacy of absentee votes.

Yeah, next time I say voter registration, I won’t just make it bold. Think about why you are in this predicament. Why you ignored the bold voter registration, to claim I reject any control. I don’t need you to pretend what it is in a reply... you thinking about it is enough.

[Sunseeker]

See! Republicans were totally spot on when they said there was voter fraud going on!!!

Because they were directing it....

[Felya]

The topic is absentee ballots, not voter registration. I’m arguing state issued ID should be required to register to vote, and said ID be verified regardless of voting method.

It is! In every state! This isn’t an argument, because it already exists.

I can point to the Democratic election official in Florida who has fucked yo every election since 2000 if you want to play partisan games. I’m simply interested in implementing controls so humans can’t deceive the system regardless of where they’re at in the voting hierarchy.

Uhm... no... I don’t want to play partisan games, that’s why I’m not here arguing that voter registration needs an ID. It’s why I don’t argue that murder needs to be illegal. I don’t put my self in partisan binds that result in me... literally... threatening whataboutism... FYI, that’s what you just did.

All the concerns about electronic ballots, and evidence of compromise on a live system has never occurred. But humans fuck up ballots and counting all the time. I want to mitigate this lack of contro through automation and better controls to gain confidence voters, regardless of method, are whom they claim to be.

No, you want to change the subject.

[Breccia]

“I was told if I didn’t fill it out, it would get filled out for me,” Robinson said.

Wow. Regardless of the fact that she believed that, the fact that she was told that at all is incredibly damning.

Going to someone's house, taking their ballot from them, filling it out yourself without their help and submitting it as authentic is textbook election fraud. This isn't "Grandma can't hold a pen anymore so she watched me do it" either. This is "give me your signed but blank form, then walk away".

And I find it unlikely Dowless was hired by accident, since he's done this before.

[Ripster42]

See! Republicans were totally spot on when they said there was voter fraud going on!!!

Because they were directing it....

This isn't voter fraud. This is election fraud.

Edit: to be clear, the 1k+ collected votes is nearly double the amount that would be required to possibly swing the election, as it's a possible vote for his competitor being changed to harris, so each ballot changes possible vote margin by 2.

[Sunseeker]

This isn't voter fraud. This is election fraud.

Tomato/tomato.

[Ripster42]

Tomato/tomato.

They're not the same. One is voters committing fraud, the other is the candidates or election officials committing fraud.

[Sorshen]

Thieves yelling 'thieves!', what a surprise!
Is anyone going to jail for this? Isn't this a federal crime?

[PosPosPos]

See! Republicans were totally spot on when they said there was voter fraud going on!!!

Because they were directing it....

Was there ever anything the Republicans accused others of doing that they weren't guilty of themselves?

Party of psychological projections.

[Ripster42]

Thieves yelling 'thieves!', what a surprise!
Is anyone going to jail for this? Isn't this a federal crime?

McCrae is likely to end up in prison, yes.

[Belize]

At some point, when you try too hard not to be an animal or a savage you start becoming a coward instead.

Negan is only "civil" when it's people he likes committing crimes.

Had Democrats done this, he'd be posting walls of text on how all Democrats need to be imprisoned Ad Vitam Aeternum without trial.

Don't fall for his bullshit.