The midterm elections continue to be litigated almost two months after they concluded. Democrats picked up some 40 seats in the U.S. House from across the country, but they came up short in North Carolina’s 9th Congressional District in initial tallies. However, vote tally leader Republican Mark Harris will not be seated once the newest Congress officially convenes early next month, according to incoming House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer.
He explained to The Washington Post:
‘Given the now well-documented election fraud that took place in NC-09, Democrats would object to any attempt by Harris to be seated on January 3. In this instance, the integrity of our democratic process outweighs concerns about the seat being vacant at the start of the new Congress.’
As has been uncovered in the time since the election, longtime GOP operative and known fraudster McCrae Dowless worked for the Harris campaign in its effort against Democrat Dan McCready, who in present vote tallies only trails by around 900 ballots, a comparatively very small number.
Dowless’s team apparently collected absentee ballots from voters, promising to turn them in at a later time — which is illegal. They didn’t exactly hide their efforts too diligently, however, with the same names appearing dozens and dozens of times as the witnesses on submitted absentee ballots.
If the Harris campaign workers didn’t like the electoral choice displayed on some of the ballots in question, the fear is that they could have been thrown away. According to present tallies, in the area Dowless worked, Harris managed a suspiciously high portion of the absentee ballots that would have demanded he earn support from a higher portion of the local population than is even Republican. A large portion of the ballots that have remained unreturned are from minority voters, to top it off — a group that has both been historically targeted by voter suppression efforts and often leans Democratic.
Given the concerns surrounding the race, the state’s Board of Elections declined to certify the results of the race, leaving its future in doubt. A hearing covering the issue had been set for January 11 — but the present board has been dissolved, and there’s not a new one expected until January 31.
Republican leaders have gone back and forth on their commitment to getting to the truth. State GOP Chairman Dallas Woodhouse made a show of anguish over what Dowless seems to have done — claiming he vomited over the news — but now, he’s back on the pro-Harris bandwagon and told CNN just this Friday that Harris’ victory “should be certified and he should go to Congress.”
Meanwhile, state authorities continue their investigation. Reported lines of inquiry have included state level criminal investigations and state cooperation with both the FBI and U.S. District Attorney Robert Higdon.
The debacle isn’t the first time GOP efforts to come out on top have blown up into a legal scandal. For instance, the Pennsylvania GOP battled with state judicial authorities over the state’s Congressional District map ahead of the midterms — and a new, much less gerrymandered map was in place in November, over their objections.
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