Election Fraud in North Carolina House Race

[MaxFly]

North Carolina Election Board Finds Evidence Of Significant Fraud To Help GOP Candidate (https://www.huffpost.com/entry/north-carolina-election-fraud-evidence_us_5c6ae122e4b01757c36e79ae?ncid=tweetlnk ushpmg00000016&section=politics)

The executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections revealed Monday that state officials had uncovered a “coordinated” and “unlawful” effort to collect absentee ballots on behalf of a Republican congressional candidate in the November election.

In the first public comments outlining the results of the state’s probe, Strach said investigators had evidence that McCrae Dowless, a political operative working on behalf of the Harris campaign, filled out and mailed in incomplete or blank ballots from both his office and home. She said Dowless paid people in cash to collect requests for absentee ballots and the ballots themselves. The state board also has evidence, she said, that Dowless paid people to falsify signatures on absentee ballots indicating that they had witnessed those ballots being filled out.

[Lisa Britt] accused Dowless of trying to obstruct the investigation into irregularities and even attempting to influence her testimony before the board. She said that after the election, he had told his workers that if they stuck together, nothing would happen because officials didn’t have evidence of wrongdoing. According to Britt, Dowless instructed her last Thursday to testify on Monday that neither she nor Dowless had done anything wrong and to plead her 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination.

Perhaps the most salient instance of voter/election fraud to be laid bare in recent history. The additional obstruction of justices charges are going to sting.

[Akrazotile]

Just for the record, OP, you believe if he never got caught and was elected, he should have lots and lots of centralized power, correct?

Err, wait... only if he’s elected from your party though. Right?

Sorry, remind me how it all works again?

[NumberSix]

Perhaps the most salient instance of voter/election fraud to be laid bare in recent history. The additional obstruction of justices charges are going to sting.
You know that what they’re accused of doing, although illegal in NC, is legal in states like California, right?

[MaxFly]

[QUOTE=Akrazotile]Just for the record, OP, you believe if he never got caught and was elected, he should have lots and lots of centralized power, correct?

Err, wait... only if he

[Akrazotile]

What kinds of centralized power do solitary 1st term House members have... especially when they're in the minority? Even the speaker of the House has pretty limited authority, less centralized governmental power.

Also, Harris hasn't been caught doing anything; there is no indication, as yet, that he had anything to do with the scheme carried out by Dowless. He was foolish to contract with Dowless given his dubious reputation prior to the 2018 election, but the focus right now is on Dowless, the people he paid to commit election fraud, and any possible attemps to obstruct justice on top of it all.

Ok. The excerpt said “political operative working on behalf of the harris campaign.” I assumed that meant the scheme was under Harris’ direction but perhaps not necessarily.

But youre a big government guy, right? Politicians should decide where all the money in this country goes, correct...? Not each person deciding where their own money goes.

Thats like a core political belief of yours, isnt it?

[MaxFly]

[QUOTE=NumberSix]You know that what they

[MaxFly]

[QUOTE=Akrazotile]Ok. The excerpt said

[MaxFly]

Mark Harris has repeatedly asserted that he knew nothing about illegal activity conducted during the 2018 on his behalf, but it appears that he was warned about McCrae Dowless prior to the election on more than one occasion, and one of those times was by his son (https://www.npr.org/2019/02/20/695996806/in-north-carolina-election-investigation-hearing-focus-turns-to-gop-candidate), an assistant US Attorney in North Carolina.


Harris' son, John Harris, is an assistant U.S. attorney in North Carolina. He said Wednesday that he reviewed the 2016 primary results after Harris was defeated by incumbent Robert Pittenger.

He noticed oddities in vote-by-mail results in Bladen County, where the third-place finisher, Todd Johnson, won a near sweep of those ballots in the county. Dowless worked on behalf of Johnson in 2016.

John Harris then looked at publicly available data on when ballots were received and noticed that the absentee ballots were returned in "batches."
That led him to believe that someone was collecting ballots and turning them in.

"Did you talk about those concerns with Mark Harris?" asked Kim Strach, the executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections.
"I did," said John Harris.

Investigators showed the board a number of emails John Harris exchanged with his father about absentee ballots in Bladen County, including an email in which he forwarded the specific North Carolina statute that forbids the collection of ballots.

[QUOTE]I love my dad and I love my mom,

[MaxFly]

Oh, I should add: Harris and his wife were unaware that their son would be testifying yesterday, and Mark Harris is set to testify today in the face of this new revelation.

[rufuspaul]

Apparently that type of fraud has been going on so long in Bladen and Robeson Counties (some of the poorest areas in the state, full of inbred troglodytes) that it became business as usual for voters there. For me the biggest red flag that something was awry was Harris defeating Pittenger in the primary. How does a multi-term Republican incumbent lose to a newcomer in a gerrymandered district?

Harris is such a phony, claiming to be a man of God and then jumping right in this shit pile. A new election should be held and he should be investigated for any other crimes he and his campaign might have committed.

[Akrazotile]

I thought you would be aware of the situation in NC since you were commenting. You really should read up on the background of the happenings in NC. It's some of that classic election/voter fraud that we've been warned about by the administration. Surprisingly, people suddenly don't want to talk about it... choosing rather to change the subject or find a tanget when it comes up. It's weird, right?


What is there to say about this? I personally EXPECT this kind of thing from politics. I believe in strong deterrents. If anyone manipulates the actual voter count, throw the book at them. I'm all for it.

The larger problem is that people like you want to give corrupt individuals MORE power of law. Greed, corruption, chrony-ism, they're not going away. At least in the hands of business and the free market they do not have the force of law. No corporation can send a person to jail for failing to comply with its directives. A government can.

You want corrupt individuals to have the authority of law over everyone else.

That's one of your core beliefs.

[Hawker]

Maxfly gonna make any new comments or posts about the Virginia debacle or is he going to pretend he’s objective and unbiased?

[rufuspaul]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article226561504.html




RALEIGH
In a startling statement, Republican candidate Mark Harris Thursday called for a new election in the 9th Congressional District “to restore the confidence of voters.”

[MaxFly]

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/politics-government/article226561504.html

Hmmm... I honestly thought he was innocent in all of this, but I'm starting to reassess that. From his testimony today: (https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/nc-gop-candidate-suddenly-calls-for-a-new-election-in-9th-district-leaves-hearing/ar-BBTUWJT?ocid=spartanntp)


Harris said he took Dowless' word about the legality of his operation. He said he also asked his main consultant, Andy Yates, to weigh in.

Yates testified over two days this week that Dowless' hiring was a "done deal" by the time he came on board in the summer of 2017. He also testified that for the most part he paid Dowless not on invoices but by verbal requests. Elections officials say Yates' company, Red Dome Group, paid Dowless a total of $131,000 during the campaign.

In answer to questions, Harris said he didn't know about the lack of oversight until this week.

"I did not know it was simply word of mouth," he told the board. "I was not keeping up with the checks and the money being spent down there until I saw your figures here."

Harris was asked about a check he wrote Dowless in May 2017 made payable to "Patriots for Progress," a political action committee. Kim Westbrook Strach, executive director of the board, asked him if he knew it was illegal for campaigns to coordinate with PACs set up for independent spending. He said he did not.

At this point, election officials should probably say, "Not so fast with a new election... let's figure out your liability here and if you should even be allowed to run."

[MaxFly]

[QUOTE=Hawker]Maxfly gonna make any new comments or posts about the Virginia debacle or is he going to pretend he

[MaxFly]

What is there to say about this? I personally EXPECT this kind of thing from politics. I believe in strong deterrents. If anyone manipulates the actual voter count, throw the book at them. I'm all for it.


We can start by making sure that officials in NC get to the bottom of this, hopefully clearing Harris - though that's not so certain now with the new revelations - and holding another election so that the people of the NC 9th can get some representation in Congress. The election board should also make sure that McCrae Dowless never gets near an election again and stand to answer for his shenanigans in prior elections. This isn't the first time he's done this.

[Akrazotile]

We can start by making sure that officials in NC get to the bottom of this, hopefully clearing Harris - though that's not so certain now with the new revelations - and holding another election so that the people of the NC 9th can get some representation in Congress. The election board should also make sure that McCrae Dowless never gets near an election again and stand to answer for his shenanigans in prior elections. This isn't the first time he's done this.


Yeah, there should be strong punishment for anyone convicted of ballot manipulation. Duh.

But what about people who don't get caught? Why do you want to give them as much legal authority as possible over our checkbooks and our civil rights?

Every position you've taken on insidehoops favors BIG GOVERNMENT from what I've seen.

Why do you want to give people so much power when you know corruption is endemic in such scenarios?

Is it because you think it's a socially hip position to take? Do you think it's intellectually trendy?

Are those your concerns?

I'm legit curious.

[MaxFly]

Yeah, there should be strong punishment for anyone convicted of ballot manipulation. Duh.

But what about people who don't get caught? Why do you want to give them as much legal authority as possible over our checkbooks and our civil rights?


Yeah, I'm really surprised that the administration, and especially the President, has had little to say about this given their strong push to investigate and expose voter and election fraud. They started a commission and everything with Kris Kobach taking the lead. It fizzled out, but you'd think they'd at least make a token statement or have Trump express his dismay. The radio silence from those who used to be extremely, extremely concerned about election and voter fraud is kinda wierd. I don't know... maybe it suddenly stopped being important to them.

We should certainly take great pains to make sure our election system stays clean. It's why we should take a hard look at the payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, and any other sketchy campaign finance shenanigans that are uncovered. The constitution certainly gives these guys and gals a lot of power. They should pay for any wrongdoing and we should beef up our protocols in order to better catch others that try to slip through the cracks. We've done an OK job catching Manafort, Gates, Cohen, Stone, Flynn, Butina, Erikson... but I think we can do better.

[Akrazotile]

Yeah, I'm really surprised that the administration, and especially the President, has had little to say about this given their strong push to investigate and expose voter and election fraud. They started a commission and everything with Kris Kobach taking the lead. It fizzled out, but you'd think they'd at least make a token statement or have Trump express his dismay. The radio silence from those who used to be extremely, extremely concerned about election and voter fraud is kinda wierd. I don't know... maybe it suddenly stopped being important to them.

We should certainly take great pains to make sure our election system stays clean. It's why we should take a hard look at the payments to Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal, and any other sketchy campaign finance shenanigans that are uncovered. The constitution certainly gives these guys and gals a lot of power. They should pay for any wrongdoing and we should beef up our protocols in order to better catch others that try to slip through the cracks. We've done an OK job catching Manafort, Gates, Cohen, Stone, Flynn, Butina, Erikson... but I think we can do better.


What does this have to do with Trump....? Are you a robot on a loop?

"All I Know Is I Hate Trump!!!!!!!" rhetoric might impress people in the cornball echo chamber. It's a means of signaling to others you belong. It's an LCD level acceptance mechanism. Any idiot can bleet about how much they hate Trump, therefore it's an easy acceptance standard for the majority to meet.

But here, where not everyone mindlessly repeats dogmatic mainstream talking points, it makes you look LESS intelligent.

Just a heads up.

[MaxFly]

Oldish news, but Mark Harris won't be running again for the NC 9th (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/us/mark-harris-north-carolina-election.html). He has cited health issues (he had 2 strokes back in January) and the need for ongoing medical care as the reason. It seems like Republicans in the state as well as nationally have distanced themselves from him and from the scandal which makes the decision an obvious one. Dan McCready expects to be run for the seat again.

Dowless was of course was indicted and charged (http://www.wbtv.com/2019/02/27/mccrae-dowless-indicted-arrested-district-investigation/) with three counts of felony obstruction of justice, two counts of conspiracy to commit felony obstruction of justice and two counts of possession of an absentee ballot. Unfortunately for him, I suspect more charges are coming.

Apparently a Grand Jury returned sealed indictments for multiple people... I'm guessing those who worked with him are finding themselves in a fair bit of legal trouble as well.

[MaxFly]

What does this have to do with Trump....? Are you a robot on a loop?

Trump has expressed serious concern about voter and election fraud, and he even created a now defunct Election Integrity Commission to look into voter fraud given his belief that it is rampant. Unfortunately, we've heard hardly a peep from him in regards to the NC 9th and the election fraud that took place there. One would think that he'd be all over it but all he issued in response was a pretty banal "I condemn all election fraud" before complaining about California for a few minutes. In fact, hardly any Conservatives who have proclaimed their interest in shoring up our electoral system and voting protocols want to talk about NC. It's weird to see Conservatives shy away from discussions about election fraud all of a sudden; they were so loquatious a few months ago. Maybe we'll hear from them again soon? Who knows? :confusedshrug:

[bladefd]

Oldish news, but Mark Harris won't be running again for the NC 9th (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/us/mark-harris-north-carolina-election.html). He has cited health issues (he had 2 strokes back in January) and the need for ongoing medical care as the reason. It seems like Republicans in the state as well as nationally have distanced themselves from him and from the scandal which makes the decision an obvious one. Dan McCready expects to be run for the seat again.

Dowless was of course was indicted and charged (http://www.wbtv.com/2019/02/27/mccrae-dowless-indicted-arrested-district-investigation/) with three counts of felony obstruction of justice, two counts of conspiracy to commit felony obstruction of justice and two counts of possession of an absentee ballot. Unfortunately for him, I suspect more charges are coming.

Apparently a Grand Jury returned sealed indictments for multiple people... I'm guessing those who worked with him are finding themselves in a fair bit of legal trouble as well.

That's a complete mess.

I have a feeling that if you are a Republican running in re-election, you may get whiplash from the public for what Mark Harris did. The public will vote against you out of anger. You may not want to run as a Republican there while it's fresh on people's minds.

[rufuspaul]

So glad Harris won't be in congress.

[NumberSix]

Trump has expressed serious concern about voter and election fraud, and he even created a now defunct Election Integrity Commission to look into voter fraud given his belief that it is rampant.
and then every Dem state refused to participate. You fail to mention that little detail.

[MaxFly]

[QUOTE]North Carolina GOP Chairman Indicted on Bribery Charges (https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/436932-north-carolina-gop-chair-indicted-on-bribery-charges)

A federal grand jury indicted the chairman of the North Carolina Republican Party and three others on bribery charges Tuesday, law enforcement officials announced.

Robin Hayes, the state GOP chair, and Greg Lindberg, a businessman and wealthy donor, are accused, along with two others, of engaging in a scheme to bribe North Carolina state Insurance Commissioner Mike Causey. Causey has not been charged.

The indictment, unsealed Tuesday, alleges that Lindberg, Hayes and two Lindberg associates, John Gray and John Palermo, sought to use independent expenditure accounts and improper campaign contributions to bribe Causey to make official decisions favorable to Lindberg

[MaxFly]

and then every Dem state refused to participate. You fail to mention that little detail.

I missed this... So sorry I didn't take the opportunity to shut this down earlier. It wasn't just Dem states, Six.

[QUOTE]John Merrill, the Republican secretary of state for Alabama, had denied the commission access to the state

[NumberSix]

The NC GOP has really been on a role of late: the gerrymandering case, the election fraud scandal, and now bribery charges against the chairman of the NC Republican Party.
But were they in blackface though?

[MaxFly]

But were they in blackface though?

Lol, true... I guess I can see how blackface is worse than intentionally disenfranchising voters... including black voters.

Good strategery there.

[rufuspaul]

The NC GOP has really been on a role of late: the gerrymandering case, the election fraud scandal, and now bribery charges against the chairman of the NC Republican Party.


Sad thing is there was as much if not more corruption when the Dems controlled the general assembly. The Governor got disbarred and the speaker of the house went to prison. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

[MaxFly]

Sad thing is there was as much if not more corruption when the Dems controlled the general assembly. The Governor got disbarred and the speaker of the house went to prison. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

They need to clean house down there. But hey, it could be worse, right... officials could have worn blackface.

[rufuspaul]

They need to clean house down there. But hey, it could be worse, right... officials could have worn blackface.


It wouldn't surprise me in the least if they did.

[NumberSix]

They need to clean house down there. But hey, it could be worse, right... officials could have worn blackface.
Or, you know, bringing 2 different women to hotel rooms and physically forcing them to give bl*wj*bs. I guess that’s not as serious as collecting votes in a way that’s illegal in NC but is legal in other states like California.

I also love how you pretend to care about gerrymandering but totally omit that the court recently ruled against the Dems’ gerrymandering in Maryland.

You also don’t mention that the Dem mayor of Baltimore just left office because of a corruption scandal.

You also don’t mention that the Dem state’s attorney just did a very sketchy deal with Jussie Smollett that looks like it was a special favor.

[MaxFly]

[QUOTE=NumberSix]Or, you know, bringing 2 different women to hotel rooms and physically forcing them to give bl*wj*bs. I guess that

[NumberSix]

I noticed you haven't commented on the election fraud in North Carolina.
What

[MaxFly]

[QUOTE=NumberSix]What

[MaxFly]

Looks like there are new charges.


Election Fraud in North Carolina Leads to New Charges for Republican Operative (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/30/us/mccrae-dowless-indictment.html?emc=rss&partner=rss)

In an indictment announced on Tuesday, the operative, L. McCrae Dowless Jr., was accused of obstruction of justice and illegal possession of an absentee ballot, among other charges. Seven other people were also indicted in connection with the election fraud inquiry, but prosecutors said the charges against one person were inadvertent and would be dismissed.

In the indictment, prosecutors alleged that Mr. Dowless directed others in the criminal mishandling of absentee ballots and that “spoiled absentee ballots were counted.” Mr. Dowless’s crimes, the indictment said, “served to undermine the integrity of the absentee ballot process and the public’s confidence in the outcome of the electoral process.”

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“This offense was done with deceit and intent to defraud and against the peace and dignity of the state,” said the indictment, which a grand jury in Wake County returned on Tuesday.

[rufuspaul]

Looks like there are new charges.


The chairman of the NC Elections Board also resigned yesterday.

Republican donors are pouring in big bucks in support of Bishop in the special election. This Bishop asshole is even worse than Harris. I wish I were eligible to vote but I'm not in the 9th district. The western end of that district ends about I mile from my house. I'm in the 36th district represented by Alma Adams.