LAURINBURG — Progress NC Action was making a three-county tour on Tuesday asking residents at each stop to consider two questions: “What did you know, Mark Harris, and when did you know it?”
Those question refer to the investigation into the election results in the 9th Congressional District, where Republican Harris defeated Democrat Dan McCready by a mere 905 votes. That investigation is centered around a GOP-contracted operative in Bladen County, McCrae Dowless, who allegedly used “shady campaign methods.”
The tour’s first stop was in Laurinburg at the Scotland County Courthouse, but was to make its way to Lumberton for a stop before holding a town hall meeting in Bladenboro later in the afternoon.
“During any typical election, only 13 percent of absentee ballots statewide are unreturned,” said Gerrick Brenner, executive director of Progress NC Action. “Yet in Bladen County that number was 40 percent in November and, in Robeson County, the number was 62 percent.
“Something is wrong there,” he added.
According to information shared by Progress NC Action:
— Dowless, himself a convicted felon, is accused of paying self-described drug users in cash to illegally collect absentee ballots from voters in the 9th District.
— While it is unknown exactly how many ballots were altered or thrown out, about 3,400 absentee ballots in Bladen and Robeson counties were requested but not returned. In other cases, voters were told when they went to the polls on election day that they had already voted absentee.
— The Harris campaign paid $430,000 to Dowless’s firm Red Dome, and in fact Harris admits to personally hiring Dowless and recommended his services to other campaigns.
— The N.C. Republican Party also paid Red Dome $17,000 while the alleged fraud scheme was taking place, even after NCGOP Executive Director Dallas Woodhouse was allegedly warned about Bladen County vote theft back in May.
“The State Board of Elections must order a new election,” Brenner said. “But even that’s not enough.”
He suggested that those found responsible for the voter fraud and theft should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. He also said a new election could include a new primary — though that could open a can of worms.
“The May primary has already been certified, so how do hold a new primary for an election that’s already been certified?” Brenner said. “And if you do that, where do you draw the line on redoing elections?”
If nothing else, he added, voters deserve a new election between Harris and McCready. He also wants Harris to forthcoming with information.
“It’s bad enough that Mark Harris personally hired a convicted felon, but now it appears that he did so with knowledge of McCrae Dowless’s shady campaign methods,” said Brenner. “Ninth District voters have a right to know the full extent of Mark Harris’s involvement in this apparent vote theft scheme, and voters deserve a new election that will be free of fraud.
“Harris and the GOP are tangled up in the biggest election fraud scandal in the U.S.,” he added.
Progress NC Action is a 501(c)(4) that is allowed to advocate for causes and candidates. On its Progress NC, the (c)(3), describes itself as “a voice for forward-thinking North Carolinians who want to protect the balanced approach to government that made our state great …”
W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-506-3023 or [email protected].