February 22, 2019

"[Mark] Harris had a 905-vote lead over his Democratic opponent, Dan McCready, but his success in Bladen County — where he won 61 percent of absentee ballots..."

"... even though Republicans there accounted for just 19 percent of them — alarmed regulators. When he finally took the stand Thursday morning, Mr. Harris denied knowing of any wrongdoing in the voter-turnout effort led by L. McCrae Dowless Jr., a veteran political operative known as a local 'guru of elections.' But in a series of questions, Mr. Harris stumbled and appeared to mislead the board. When he returned to the crowded courtroom after a lunch recess, he asked whether he could read a statement. He apologized to the board and explained that recent medical issues, including two strokes, had impaired his abilities and recall. And then he asked for a new election. 'It’s become clear to me that the public’s confidence in the Ninth District’s general election has been undermined to an extent that a new election is warranted,' Mr. Harris said to audible gasps."

From "New Election Ordered in North Carolina Race at Center of Fraud Inquiry" (NYT).

Apparently, the most devastating testimony came from Harris's  a 29-year-old son John, who is a Justice Department lawyer:

[H]e said he had been wary of Mr. Dowless after analyzing returns in the 2016 election. In an email the day after Mr. Harris and Mr. Dowless met, John Harris explained the stakes.

“The key thing that I am fairly certain they do that is illegal is that they collected the completed absentee ballots and mail them all at once,” John Harris wrote in an email that he shared with investigators — a document his father’s campaign had not done weeks ago, when it said it had complied with a subpoena’s demands....

“I love my dad, and I love my mom,” John Harris said in his closing remarks, as his father wept. “I certainly have no vendetta against them, no family scores to settle. I think they made mistakes in this process, and they certainly did things differently than I would have done them.”

42 comments:

rehajm said...

Now do California.

Narayanan said...

If the ballots are otherwise properly completed why should mailing them in a bunch be disqualifying?

Is it third party collection?

Oh boy!!!

Ann Althouse said...

"If the ballots are otherwise properly completed why should mailing them in a bunch be disqualifying? "

1. There are written rules. You're supposed to follow them. If you think the rules are wrong, work on changing them. Don't just break them.

2. There was a subpoena, and he didn't produce something that was asked for. He hid it. His own son had to rat him out. Shameful!

tim in vermont said...

There was a subpoena, and he didn't produce something that was asked for.

You mean like Hillary Clinton? Oh, that was only a Congressional subpoena, which can be safely ignored apparently without consequence.

stlcdr said...

Blogger Ann Althouse said...
"If the ballots are otherwise properly completed why should mailing them in a bunch be disqualifying? "

1. There are written rules. You're supposed to follow them. If you think the rules are wrong, work on changing them. Don't just break them.


And this is why people trash lawyers.

To any reasonable person, based on what has been quoted, makes no sense. The question is still a valid one. It’s not clear that this is a legal rule, and if it was, it appears to simply be an administrative one, and not one that requires complete disqualification. Perhaps there are reasons for it, but just answering the question ‘because it’s the law!’ Is one of petulance.

rhhardin said...

It's a little hard to follow but I gather that the news part is that a republican cheated.

Narayanan said...

Emerita Professora:
I hope you didn't hurt yourself pounding the table.

Ralph L said...

By admitting this, Harris may have assured his reelection.

We used to go to White Lake in Bladen County for a week every summer until the late 70's, and I sold my inherited 9 acres of mostly swamp there in 1998. At the time, I would say its white people were Democrats by birth but slowly changing to vote Republican (thanks to McGovern), as my parents were. I'm sure it's changed in 40 years, but it's still mostly rural.

Fritz said...

There's a federal prosecutor running around in North Carolina catching and prosecuting non-citizens who voted, and boy is the Washington Post pissed.

narciso said...

A Republican won, it's a different thing.

Ralph L said...

running around in North Carolina catching and prosecuting non-citizens

Nine in my county had charges brought but got off easy, but those might have been state charges, not federal.

narciso said...

He gave into a new election, it's like playing global thermonuclear war.

Henry said...

Weirdly, he's going into this new election having suffered a series of strokes.

Grant said...

Vote tampering by Democrats is legendary in scale and brazenness in that part of North Carolina. The only difference this time is that a Republican--one with a squeaky clean reputation--apparently took advantage of the corrupt "system." The brazenness is so obvious, even at the state level, that the leftish media collusion in it looks both stupid and evil.

Ralph L said...

Grant said...
Vote tampering by Democrats is legendary in scale and brazenness in that part of North Carolina
But curiously, it was subdued by Sherman.

Michael K said...

Nobody is interested in California or even Arizona where vote harvesting was widespread. Maybe it's OK as long as only Democrats do it.

nob490 said...

1. There are written rules. You're supposed to follow them. If you think the rules are wrong, work on changing them. Don't just break them.


He asked you a question, assuming because of your background you might know the answer.

You give some crappy answers sometimes.

rcocean said...

reason no. 543 why the Republicans always lose.

Its amazing how many R's will betray their family, or lose an election, or give up an AG spot for some "ethical" position that no else cares about.

It's like Sessions. He decided recusing himself over Mueller was more important then being AG, and fighting all the things he was against. What a Dumb ass. Same with this kid. No one cares about "election fraud" - if they did people would be outraged over the Fraud going on in Chicago or LA. Imagine injuring your father over this tripe!

rcocean said...

And the D's and MSM can ALWAYS find some R that will go "Maverick". Meanwhile, the D's have almost perfect team discipline.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

Narayanan Subramanian said...

If the ballots are otherwise properly completed why should mailing them in a bunch be disqualifying?

I would assume that the concern is that the person collecting them could filter the ballots based on who they were for. Are the ballots sealed? How well are they sealed? Is it possible to unseal&reseal? See through the sealed ballot?

Greg P said...

"If the ballots are otherwise properly completed why should mailing them in a bunch be disqualifying?"

Because the main point of the secret ballot was to block people from being able to pay you for your vote.

Letting someone collect ballots from people, confirm that they voted the "right" way, then pay them, then mail in the ballot themselves, enables vote fraud.

It's why the only people who should be able to vote absentee are people who have a specific, verified, reason for doing so.

FIDO said...

Where is your analysis of Broward County, Ms. Cruel Neutrality™?

FIDO said...

California who refuses to submit to an electoral audit.

Illinois same.

New Jersey, same.

Broward County

Washington State

Franken-ville

Arizona

Detroit, with more votes than voters.

Yeah...it's a Republican problem.

FIDO said...

On the one hand, my job frequently has me traveling or overseas when election day comes around.

So Absentee Ballots are very good so I can be counted.

I am against massive vote collections by ANYONE. If you don't care enough to actually get off your ass and go to the voting place, you don't deserve a vote. I have to drive 15 miles and wait half an hour to get an absentee ballot out.

So I am not in favor of this practice in principle, BUT if the Dems continue to do it, I care not a fig for the a Law which increasingly only prosecutes one side.

Madam Bloginetrix, your side first.

Hagar said...

"Fighting fire with fire" - but you lose the "high ground."

Lucien said...

Where are the usual Voting Rights advocates chanting, “Every vote counts”?

Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...

any unusual voting that bodes well for democrats will be ignored.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Greg P, exactly. Especially:

It's why the only people who should be able to vote absentee are people who have a specific, verified, reason for doing so.

You can vote absentee when you're out of the country, or in the country but not in your state for some good reason (funerals, &c.) Otherwise, you show up at your own polling place on election day. If you don't, you don't vote.

I live in one of the couple of states that is entirely vote-by-mail. I hate it. As I do early voting and all other such innovations. The way I see it: There is one day to vote; you show up, physically, on that day and cast your ballot. That's it.

CWJ said...

I was all ready to write a come down hard on vote fraud whoever commits it, but Althouse's post left me more confused than enlightened.

wildswan said...

Absentee ballot vote harvesting undoes the secret ballot. I'm not surprised the story is about a Republican. The only way in which an abuse will get exposed is if a Republican does it. Vote harvesting in connection with absentee ballots is an abuse and in my opinion it is so serious that Trump will lose in 2020 if it continues. Look at the 2018 Congressional elections in which many elections were lost due to absentee ballots collected by vote harvesters. Also I recently read the whole of Shattered, a book about Hillary Clinton's loss. Apparently the campaign used "data analytics" which seems to mean information from Facebook to identify Democrats and the exact message to send to individuals. But data analytics is a technique that can be very focused and was. It was never used at all to look at Republicans and entirely missed the Trump turnout. That's what Shattered says. But based on the 2018 Wisconsin campaign, I think data analytics people are now looking for Trump voters in areas by using the 2016 vote as well as social media data and then using data analytics, (i.e, any social media that will sell them data) to develop absentee voters in those same areas, enough to outvote the Trump voters. There's plenty of people everywhere who will not dare say no if a certain someone tells them to fill in an absentee ballot in front of them. And in Wisconsin these ballots must have a witness.

hombre said...

With congressional seat at stake, deep state son volunteers to throw Republican dad under the bus for procedural violation. What a guy!

Chuck said...

The immediate aftermath of this scandal(?) is that Republicans lose a seat. But the bigger, better aftermath is that this case stands for even more election law vigilance. More anti-fraud election law. All good for fair elections (first and foremost) and Republicans, broadly (secondarily).

mccullough said...

There are over 10 million here illegally. Lawmakers and “our leaders” don’t give a shit.

The rule of law is a joke.

I give the kid some credit for being a starrry eyed idealist. His old man sheltered him well. Sounds like a momma’s boy.

A few more years at the DOJ will change that.

We are not a nation of laws.

We are a nation of Jeffrey Epsteins and corrupt prosecutors and judges and “leaders.”

Drago said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Drago said...

Durbin Cuckholster Chuck: "But the bigger, better aftermath is that this case stands for even more election law vigilance."

LOL

There will never be more election law vigilence whereever your democrat allies hold power.

Quite the opposite in fact. Entirely the opposite. Democrats wont even allow vote audits.

But there is a silver lining here: we arent getting what LLR Chuck terms a "disaster"...and that is a republican victory.

Instead, its a dem victory, so "disaster" averted, eh Chuck!

You and Inga will have something to celebrate today so congratulations to you and she and everyone else on Team Left.

FIDO said...

In some pit of Hell, Boss Tweed is smiling.

Big Mike said...

I’d certainly waste no time writing that kid out of my will.

I think I get why election laws are enforced down to the last comma on Republicans but it’s all wink-wink, nudge-nudge for Democrats, especially prominent ones. I also think I get why Althouse goes along with that.

Henry said...

In defense of the son, he probably was saying behind the scenes: "Dad, you either go clean and rescue your career or you and mom are going to get indicted."

narayanan said...

here is my due diligence

I repeat my questions again.
How does the board verify any of the below conditions?


https://www.ncvoter.org/absentee-ballots/
Any registered voter can vote through the mail by using an Absentee Ballot. No excuse or special reason is needed to use this process. Follow these steps:

1. Request: You or a near relative* must complete an Absentee Ballot request form (be sure the request is signed). This request can be made as much as 60 days before major elections, but only 30 days before a municipal election. The completed request may be scanned and emailed, faxed, or mailed to the county Board of Elections. It must be received at least 7 days before Election Day, by 5 PM. The request form will ask for your North Carolina driver’s license or DMV identity card ID number or the last four digits of your Social Security number. If you do not have either of those numbers, you may send a copy of one of the following documents with your name and current address along with the request form:
A utility bill from an electric, water, gas, phone or cable company.
A bank statement or bank-card statement.
A paycheck or pay stub.
Any license, permit, invoice, check, letter or any other document from a local, state or federal government agency.
2. Receive Ballot: The Board will send the following 3 items to the mailing address you provide on the request form (the items cannot be picked up in person):
An Absentee Ballot,
A return envelope with a certificate statement on it, and
An instruction sheet.
3. Mark Ballot, Fill out Certificate on the Envelope: Mark the ballot with your choices in the presence of two witnesses (or a notary public) who are at least 18 years old and not candidates in the election. The witnesses should not violate your privacy while you vote (unless you need assistance due to a disability); they must sign the certificate on the return envelope and provide their addresses. Make sure all parts of the certificate form on the envelope are filled out, including your signature, then insert the Ballot in the envelope, and seal it.
4. Return the Ballot in the Envelope: To be counted, the Ballot must be received by your county Board of Elections by 5 PM on Election Day or it must be postmarked by 5 PM on Election Day and arrive in the mail by 5 PM three days later. If you wait until Election Day to mail the envelope, go inside the post office and get it hand postmarked by the clerk, because mail dropped in a blue box often does not receive a postmark. Alternatively, the envelope with the ballot may be hand-delivered to an Early Voting location or the county Board of Elections office by Election Day, but hand delivery can only be done by the voter or the voter’s near relative.
* A near relative is a parent, legal guardian, spouse, sibling, grandparent, child, grandchild, father-in-law, mother-in-law, son-in-law, daughter-in-law, step parent or step child.
Note: A separate Absentee Ballot request must be made for the Primary and General Election, unless you are in the military or you attest that illness or physical disability will make it difficult for you to go the polls during an entire election cycle. Under those circumstances, you can request ballots for the Primary and General Election with a single request form. You will need to renew this request each year.

Greg P said...

The immediate aftermath of this scandal(?) is that Republicans lose a seat

No, the immediate aftermath should be that there's a primary, and Harris, who did the vote fraud in the primary, too, loses. Different Republican then wins the General

Known Unknown said...

Two strokes?
Courtroom crying?
Election hijinks?

This guy is toast.

tim maguire said...

Thank goodness they’re going after the Republican cheaters. That’ll really clean up the system!