We left off Sunday night before the meeting of the North Carolina Board of Elections. All the background about the case, the candidates and the 9th district can be found there, as well as my predictions how just how horrible Democrat Blue Dog Dan McCready is likely to be and how progressives would be better off without him in Congress. But I know you want to cheer for Team Blue anyway, so here's the update.Voter fraud galore and it seems like these Republicans absolutely have to go to prison for trying to steal the election. On Monday Leslie McCrae Dowless, who was paid by Republican Mark Harris to steal the 2018 primary and general election, was aware of that and said he will not testify with a grant of immunity from prosecution. That makes sense-- especially after his stepdaughter testified how his ballot harvesting operation worked.
Lisa Britt, whose mother was married to Leslie McCrae Dowless in the early 1990s, testified that Dowless paid workers to collect absentee ballot request forms and mail-in absentee ballots and drop them off at his office and his home.She said Dowless and others made copies of request forms and had specific criteria for matching pen colors, where to mail ballots from, how many to mail at a time and even how to place stamps to avoid setting off alarms.“He fussed at me for putting on stamps upside down,” Britt testified before the N.C. Board of Elections. “We didn’t want to throw up a red flag.” ...Britt’s testimony was the beginning of the attempt by a new, five-member state board to prove what Executive Director Kim Westbrook Strach called “a coordinated, unlawful and substantially resourced absentee ballot scheme operated during the 2018 general election in Bladen and Robeson counties.”The hearing took place in a makeshift courtroom at the state bar and drew dozens of potential witnesses as well as national media. When it ends, the board will vote to either certify the victory of Republican Mark Harris, call for a new election or deadlock, which would throw the matter into limbo.Harris leads Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes in unofficial results in the district, which runs from Charlotte to Bladen County in the east.Dowless was hired by Red Dome Group, Harris’ campaign consulting group at Harris’ direction. The state board said Red Dome Group paid Dowless $131,357.57 from July 3 to Nov. 7, but said that it could not be certain all of the money was for Harris’ campaign.Monday marked the first time that state officials revealed their findings in the investigation, which launched in November and twice caused the old nine-member state board not to certify the election results. Britt, a convicted felon who had previously spoken to investigators, said she didn’t think Dowless would have her do anything illegal. Britt, who testified without immunity and without a lawyer present, admitted to multiple election fraud activities.“I don’t want to get him in trouble. I don’t want to get anyone in trouble,” Britt said. “Mr. Dowless has been a father figure to me for 30 years. There’s certain things you would place trust in. He’s not going to put you out here to do something illegal.” But Britt outlined a process by which she and other workers often signed as witnesses for ballots they did not see signed, traced over signatures to make sure the ink colors matched that of the voter’s, dated forms incorrectly, forged signatures and filled in down-ballot races on some ballots.It is illegal in North Carolina for anyone outside of a close relative to handle a voter’s absentee ballot. Her testimony was backed by another witness, Kelly Hendrix, who testified that she collected ballots and turned them into Dowless with only one of the two required witness signatures. The forms were signed later, Hendrix said, by people who did not see them collected.Britt also told the board that Dowless-- on at least two occasions-- tried to influence her public statements and testimony. As controversy swirled over the election results last year, Britt said Dowless called her and other workers together for a meeting at his house.“As long as we all stick together we’ll all be fine, because they don’t have anything on us,” Britt said Dowless told them. Britt, who along with her two young children lived with Dowless for a time last year, said late last week, Dowless sent her a note, urging her to say she had not done anything wrong, that Dowless had never instructed her to do anything wrong and to take the 5th Amendment against self-incrimination before the board.The note was entered into evidence. Britt testified that she made false statements during a December interview with WBTV, in which she denied collecting absentee ballots.“I do feel I have done wrong,” she said. ...“You heard direct evidence of a scheme to deprive voters of the 9th Congressional District of fair balloting,” McCready campaign attorney Marc Elias said after the hearing. “And you heard that that direct evidence winds up doorstep and the telephone of Republican candidate Mark Harris.”Republicans say unreturned ballots don’t necessarily suggest fraud. An attorney for the Harris campaign pointed out that the Bladen County Improvement PAC, a Democratic group, was working to request numerous absentee ballots as well. Republicans say McCready must show that any fraudulent ballots actually made a difference.“The burden is on McCready to prove absent the irregularities he likely would have won the race. The burden is not on Mr. Harris or the NCGOP to prove the election system is perfect. It is not, never has been, and never will be,” tweeted Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the NC Republican Party.Under state law, the board can call for a new election if “Irregularities or improprieties occurred to such an extent that they taint the results of the entire election and cast doubt on its fairness.”
Trump and Harris-- perfect pair of cheatsExciting, right? Tuesday the fireworks continued with a finding that "votes were counted days before Election Day in the rural county at the center of the disputed results." AP reported that "The officials also said the election was marred by falsified signatures, blank ballots that consultants could complete and disappearing documents. The state elections board on Tuesday heard from Bladen County poll workers who admitted tallying results on the Saturday before Election Day when early, in-person voting ended. That’s contrary to proper practice... [and] the practice of early counting raises questions about the vulnerability of the county’s voting results."This process was expected to end today tomorrow with a decision by Friday. That looks less likely as the magnitude of the criminal activities continues to unfold. The Republican Party has been whining about voters fraud for years and years and they have finally found it. Now we all know why they were so sure of it too. Except for people who get their news from Fox. They don't get a reality-based perspective on anything. It's kind of scary. For example, this Tucker Carlson piece with Dutch historian Rutger Bregman hasn't been aired-- and won't be. You should watch it though... for a whole variety of reasons, done of which have anything directly to do with Republican Parrty election theft in North Carolina.UPDATE: BREAKING NEWS!In an unexpected shock today, Mark Harris' son. John, testified that he had warned his father-- more than once-- about fraudulent absentee ballots in Bladen County and told him in no uncertain terms that McCrae Dowless is a GOP career criminal.
