Tag Archives: election fraud

Via press release from the Justice Department: Thomas Cooper, a mail carrier in Pendleton County, has admitted to attempted election fraud, U.S. Attorney Bill Powell announced. Cooper, age 47, of Dry Fork, West Virginia, pled guilty to one count of “Attempt to Defraud the Residents of West Virginia of a Fair Election” and one count of “Injury to the Mail.” …

The Associated Press reports: President Donald Trump is taking credit for turning around a faltering Republican congressional candidate and hoisting him to victory in a North Carolina special election. Trump wrote on Twitter late Tuesday that Dan Bishop was down by 17 points three weeks ago, but after the 9th Congressional District candidate asked Trump for help, “we changed his …

The Charlotte Observer reports: A Republican political operative who worked for one-time congressional candidate Mark Harris in Bladen County faces felony charges in connection with the 2018 general election, an indictment revealed Tuesday by the Wake County district attorney shows. Leslie McCrae Dowless was charged with two counts of felony obstruction of justice, perjury, solicitation to commit perjury, conspiracy to …

The Charlotte Observer reports: State Sen. Dan Bishop easily won Tuesday’s 9th District Republican primary, three months after state officials took the unprecedented step of throwing out a 2018 election marred by fraud allegations. Bishop will face Democrat Dan McCready and two third-party candidates on Sept. 10 in what’s expected to be the nation’s most closely watched special election. In …

Charlotte’s Fox affiliate reports: Following last month’s decision to hold a new election due to ballot fraud in the 9th district, the North Carolina State Board of Elections has set the date for the special election. North Carolinians will return to the polls September 10. The primary will be held on May 14. This comes on the heels of last …

Yesterday the Republican operative at the center of North Carolina’s election fraud scandal was arrested on seven felony charges. Today we learn more arrests may be coming. The Washington Post reports: Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman’s decision to seek indictments almost immediately after the close of those hearings sent a “clear signal,” she said, “that we take seriously the …

Raleigh’s CBS affiliate reports: McCrae Dowless has been indicted on seven charges in connection to an investigation into absentee ballot irregularities in the NC District 9 general election. Dowless has been charged with three counts of felonious obstruction of justice, two counts of conspiracy to commit obstruction of justice and two counts of possession of absentee ballot. Dowless was arrested …

The Charlotte Observer reports: Citing his health, Republican Mark Harris said Tuesday that he won’t run in a new election for the 9th Congressional District. “After consulting with my physicians, there are several things that my health situation requires as a result of the extremely serious condition that I faced in mid-January. One of those is a necessary surgery that …

Raleigh’s CBS affiliate reports: Following the state Board of Elections hearing on fraud in the 9th Congressional district, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman says she expects to take the case before a grand jury in the next month. Freeman said that case largely focuses on the 2016 general and 2018 primary elections, knowing the state was conducting its own …

The Charlotte Observer reports: Republican Mark Harris, in a stunning reversal, called Thursday for a new election in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District, giving up hopes of being certified as the winner in a race marked by voting irregularities in Bladen and Robeson counties. “I believe a new election should be called,” Harris said in testimony before the state elections …

The Charlotte Observer reports: John Harris said he sent his father an email outlining felony criminal law in 2017 as it relates to ballot-collecting. But he said that he doesn’t thinks his parents believed Bladen County political operative McCrae Dowless was breaking the law. “I have no reason to believe that, at all…I think they were lied to,” said John …

The Washington Post reports: State election officials said Monday that a political operative for Republican Mark Harris orchestrated a complex scheme to illegally collect and falsify absentee ballots in the 9th Congressional District last year, hiding evidence of the scheme as it unfolded and obstructing the state’s investigation after the election. Those explosive charges opened an evidentiary hearing in Raleigh …

Politico reports: North Carolina’s board of elections will dig into fraud allegations in the state’s disputed 9th Congressional District on Monday, kicking off hearings that could prompt a new election this year. The district has gone without a congressman this year after the board declined to certify the 2018 election results amid accusations that McCrae Dowless, an operative hired by …

Raleigh’s WRAL reports: The new State Board of Elections will meet in two weeks to review evidence of alleged absentee ballot fraud in the 9th Congressional District. The five-member board, which Gov. Roy Cooper appointed last week, has set a hearing in the 9th District investigation for 10 a.m. Feb. 18. The hearing is expected to last two to three …

The Charlotte Observer reports: The state’s investigation into election fraud by the Mark Harris campaign will continue, a judge ruled Tuesday morning. Harris is the Republican candidate who appeared to narrowly win an election for North Carolina’s 9th District seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2018 elections. But the state has not officially certified his victory, due …

The Charlotte Observer reports: Republican Mark Harris said Wednesday he’ll ask a Wake County Superior Court judge to certify his election in the 9th Congressional District immediately, even as a probe into alleged election fraud continues. Harris’ announcement came after North Carolina state elections officials postponed next week’s hearing into allegations of election fraud in the 9th District — and …

The Washington Post reports: Incoming House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Friday that Democrats next week will not seat a North Carolina Republican amid allegations of election fraud in the state’s 9th Congressional District. “Given the now well-documented election fraud that took place in NC-09, Democrats would object to any attempt by [Mark] Harris to be seated on January …

The New York Times reports: The North Carolina state elections board dissolved on Friday under a court order, two weeks before its much-anticipated hearing to consider evidence of possible absentee ballot fraud in the disputed November election for the Ninth District’s seat in Congress. The unwinding of the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement is a consequence of a …

Charlotte’s NPR affiliate reports: Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a bill that would’ve required a new primary election in the 9th District Friday, saying it would make it harder to root out corruption in elections and campaigns. The elections bill, House Bill 1029, aimed to restore the governor’s control of the state elections board, an action Cooper was pleased by, but …

Charlotte’s NPR affiliate reports: The North Carolina Republican Party says it’s “totally unacceptable” that the State Board of Elections has postponed a hearing on allegations of fraud in the 9th Congressional District until Jan. 11. The board had planned to hold a hearing on the 9th district on Friday, and had said it was mindful that the new Congress will …