This is what vote fraud looks like - and note that it was done at the hands of North Carolina Republicans. The same Republicans that are trying to ensconce voter suppression in our state constitution.
14
If this is all true, should the position go to the person who was running against him?
6
The only hope there ever is for the future is sons and daughters who, despite their briefer experience, are wiser than their parents, and brave enough to stand up to them.
Here together in this single story we have:
A son who tried to save his father from his own corruption and greed, and refused to lie for him when that failed. It remains to be seen whether the father's tears are of shame at betraying his country and letting down his son, or just of despair at losing a seat of great power. Either way, he belongs in jail, and I'm sure his son will visit him there.
Then we have a young woman who was conned into committing felonies because the sleazy shyster “resembled my dad so much that I just connected with him”. At some point, a preponderance of the young people of the South will break with their past, but it ain't happened yet. Maybe in this century, though?
11
The culture wars. There are millions of people that oppose
(1) abortion on demand
(2) "gay marriage."
And here (1) probably outweighs (2) by a factor of ten to one.
The GOP is well aware of this. They have ridden to victory on these issues in a number of places. I have friends that would never dream of not voting Republican.
BUT--
--those number are shrinking--dwindling--going away.
There are huge crops of millennials who by no means turn away, appalled, from (1)--though some do. And by no means do they blanch with horror when they contemplate (2)--though some do.
Apart from all that--
--what on earth can the GOP offer people?
Tax breaks? We know whose mighty hands are reaching down and scooping up most of the dough proffered (so loudly for a time) in these Republican "tax breaks."
What else?
Smaller government? Most people realize that government (pace Ronald Reagan) is NOT "the enemy." Government does good things for people. Let the Koch brothers smile and wheedle as they will--hawking panaceas of "unrestricted capitalism." I do think most people simply don't believe them.
And so--
--the GOP (and I'm sorry to say it)--
--feels itself compelled--
--to cheat--swindle--dodge--
--cheat--swindle--dodge--
--all over the map.
As in Bladen County, North Carolina.
They should get nailed for that.
Looks like they are.
Good.
3
This is a clear indication of how little understanding or care many Americans have for their right to vote. I believe the woman who thought she wasn't doing anything wrong. "What? It's wrong to fill in the bubble that VOTES for someone else in an election? I thought that was what the bubbles were for..."
4
Travis Long's photographs say it all.
The father broken with remorse for his faustian trading his soul for power, but at least he can be proud for having raised a straight shooting son.
6
The ultimate in irony. No, it's not that Republicans cheat, that's common knowledge. It's that while reading this article on my phone, I am treated to no fewer than seven advertisements for Koch Industries.
5
@Rob Wolfson...You must have a real love affair with Koch Industry products, because most of these pop up ads are fueled by the previous browsing history of the individual. The Times gets paid for ad-clicks, so quit clicking ads for products you don't intend to purchase. Voila...NO Koch. Ironically, I never get treated to Koch sugar.
3
Afraid not, Albert. All my pop-up ads are generic, as I don't allow tracking of my purchasing habits and I've never clicked on a single pop-up ad in my life. But now that I think of it, maybe things do go better with Koch.
2
Dowless and Harris should go to jail. This is criminal and they knew it. I think this is only the tip of the iceberg. I'm sure something similar was carried out in many other states for many other candidates. This must stop and the best way is to make examples of these crooks.
4
Whether Harris is a self-professed Christian and Dowless a self-described Republican, the NYTimes report reveals that Dowless sought out people who were in need of money to be his mules in collecting ballots. The local election system was apparently susceptible to this kind of corruption. Harris's son was smart enough to smell a rat and warn his father. He, in turn, ignored the son's advice and opted to hire a convicted felon to help with his campaign. This, in itself, would indicate he lacks good judgment; why should he serve in our Congress? And what has he told his parishioners in the name of the Lord?
3
Good thing (like Trump) they are so inept
2
GOP in the NC-9 race: "I know nothing, I hear nothing, I see nothing."
2
I just wonder if this would have been shenanigans staged by Democrats, Republicans will destroy everyone involved. Although is extremely upsetting this is happening in 2019 and has been orchestrated by Republicans. Republicans criticized Democrats in every voting position, although they bend the law to their advantage. Hopefully Republicans will dig their own graves and simply go away.
2
I have no sympathy for Mark Harris and his crocodile tears.
4
'fly by night' Voting fraud seems much too serious to be reduced to 'flight by night'. This was corruption of a national election outcome for partisan advantage, not over charging for aluminum siding.
Conservative media bias minimizing the signifcance of what took place, is that what is going on?
One of Jesus anointed representatives on earth contracted with a team of crooked vote gatherers despite warnings from a family member trained in the law. That is fly by day willingness to risk the elective process to voting fraud.
We all understand the Godly character of most North Carolina Republicans, but not all North Carolina Republicans.
1
@stewart bolinger...Your Constitutional right to express your Christophobic opinions is duly noted, Stew. But, please, gets your facts straight. This was no more of a "national election" than it was an exercise in aluminum siding.
The sooner we ALWAYS identify North Carolina, or any other state that was part of the Confederacy as a Slave State, the sooner we will have the right perspective on Southern Conservatives.
4
@UTBG...When does bigotry EVER lead to the "right" perspective?
Straight from the Republican playbook. As Bill Maher says, "When they can't win, they cheat."
3
I am originally from N.C. and had been a Republican until Trump came along. Now I'm ashamed to admit either.
4
@jmtc...It must have taken a lot of courage to overcome the shame of admitting on The New York Times that you were once a North Carolina Republican. Kudos, bud.
2
Another good reason to get money out of politics. No TV ads, no yard signs, no paid operatives. Just tell us what you have done and how your going to address the issues.
3
It makes me wonder if any republicon has ever legitimately won there.
6
Hadn't been following this recently but I thought Harris said he didn't even know Dowless when this story first broke? Or is that just lie number one?
2
Curiously, I don't see coverage of this story on Fox News. I check their site occassionally to get a dose of the 'alternative facts' aired there, and there's no coverage of this story.
Its a bit alarming, really.
5
@mmmmaris...Yeah, Faux was obsessed with the Smollett False Police Report scandal, the ISIS terrorists, and Trump's trip to Viet Nam to continue negotiating on denuclearization of North Korea. Obvious attempts to distract from the real issues of the day. Thanks for keeping an eye on the enemy for the rest of us.
2
None of this surprises me. Great work law enforcement! Package your methodology and teach every county in America what to look for. Don't let this vigilance to duty fade. Spread the word. Make it a science so every single vote is counted and counted again. Again, great job!
3
I haven't heard a word from our president, Kobach, or any of the other scammers that blame people of color for voter fraud.
You'd think El Presidente would be out there wagging his finger saying, "I told you so".
Of course, this doesn't fit his idea of what voter fraud is as it was done to help his party, so it's just fine.
2
Was crying because he know he was caught or because his son exposed him. Either way he know what was going on. Just because you are a minister doesn't mean you can do what you want. He should concede the election and save the state the money of another election or he should have to pay for it committing voter fraud. And what party is Harris in??? oh I forgot it is the GOP!!!!
3
The real crime is that republicans use everything they can to take away the constitutional right of democrats and scream of voter fraud but when their operatives steal elections then they don't care about voter fraud.
I have a hard time telling the difference between fascists and republicans. Our democracy is doomed to fascists and plutocrats all brought to us by republicans.
3
Without cheating, republicans will become a sizable minority in almost any state. That is why they are desperate and this is just the tip of the iceberg. Voters suppression and Gerrymandering are other tactics.
These tactics they resort to because they are desperate.
The GOP selves destructing on its own. Sadly, they handed themselves out of desperation to fascists
1
Why hasn't Fat Nixon said anything about this voter fraud. I thought that was a campaign issue for the GOP and Him. Conservative Right Wingers equate Hypocrisy.
Looking at the photo of Harris crying, I can tell he feels really bad, that he got caught.
11
@Puki
There is also the Spartan policy among the republicons. Its not the stealing cheating and otherwise being a crook that is the problem for them.
It is the fact of having been caught at it that they will hold against him.
2
Let's do some math. Mark Harris has "supposedly" 900 more votes over his opponents. Dowless paid $3 for an absentee ballot request and $2.5 for a ballot. His company received tens of thousands of dollars. How many is tens of thousands? Let's say 55 thousands. That could potentially be 10,000 votes being tempered with. If only 10% of these votes were tempered in favor of Mark Harris, it would be far more than Mark Harris' vote margin. Is there any reason why this election should not be invalidated? We shall see ...
5
Not surprising in a state that is gerrymandered like a jigsaw puzzle that created a veto proof legislation prior to 2018 and stripped many the powers of the governor when a Democratic governor was elected in the last gubernatorial election. I've heard many of them, including Mark Meadows, the gerrymandered federal House Rep, call themselves honest Christians. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
7
'He also seemed like an operative who knew his workers were interested in money, not public policy.
Like Ocasio-Cortez voters, interested on an 'income guaranteed for those who refuse to work'
You know what's wrong with Democracy? the people are allowed to voted.
All the people, specially those interested on income for refusing to work.
Those who have a brain cannot support either side and are faced with the choice, AOC or Trump? and they rather not vote at all.
2
@AutumnLeaf
What is with the disinformation campaign Autumn? The only people who get money for not working is the 1% the rest is just your propaganda.
5
They should immediately award the House seat to the opponent as a warning to future candidates that such behavior, if proven, will result in your loss.
5
Some Republican politicians firmly believe that winning is more important than the moral or ethical cost. Republican politicians are simply following the election of Trump as a guide to how to win elections. You misuse campaign funds for personal and family use, you consistently lie until your supporters believe it to be true, and you use your party leaders and media to promote your corrupt behavior as being normal and presidential.
4
To summarize: the GOP defense to validate this election was the fraudulent
vote count is less than the "win" difference. This suggests if any criminal
activity yields no reward: it isn't a criminal activity. Sorta along the lines
that we have a "stable genius " as President. Ya gotta love irony.
5
Ah, life in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, where a mad President and an unscrupulous GOP are busily undermining democracy and perverting the rule of law all the while extolling authoritarian rule around the world. This is indeed a dangerous time and while this bit of theatre of the absurd seems ludicrous, it is indicative of the rot undermining a much larger political stage.
4
As David Frum, a Republican veteran of the White House, has written, and I paraphrase, if conservatives become convinced they can't win democratically, they won't reject conservatism --- they're reject democracy," and we see that once again, that is true.
Other examples: Bush v. Gore, Citizens United, Hobby Lobby, and now this - all examples of republicans rejecting democracy. How long will we, the 76 percent of Americans who don't identify as republicans, put up with this garbage?
3
The crocodile tears shed by Mark Harris should impress no one. He hired a crook he knew to be a crook and profited from it at the expense of the people of North Carolina's Ninth District and democracy itself. Mark Harris should should be prosecuted and if convicted, incarcerated.
6
Where’s the trump commission to look at this crime? Oh that rights its the GOP not those democrats.
2
I consider most preachers as frauds and brainwashers in pretending they are direct messengers of God. That is why we have separation of church and state, and preachers and evangelical people should not be able to run for office. In addition, preachers have turned churches into political bodies, and therefore, the tax free status should end.
8
We FINALLY find some actual vote fraud, and surprise, surprise, it's being conducted by Republicans working for a candidate who is a "pastor."
I'm shocked, I tell you.
10
How interesting that the GOP continues to search for non-existent instances of Democratic voter fraud, but continue to ignore the only ones of merit that are ALL REPUBLICAN!!! When will the hypocrisy end???
4
It makes me wonder why Republicans worry so much about voter fraud: Are they committing it all the time?
3
This will set the new record for how long AFTER an election can a Democrat steal it. Incidentally, this process is entirely legal in California, and how Dems swung SoCal. Anybody can deliver the necessary number of votes after the count is in...entirely nuts.
@skyfiber
Thank you for your undocumented, unsubstantiated and unsourced disinformation.
Democrats dominate in California because all citizens are allowed to vote and because the Republican party is a radical fringe party.
Republicans win in North Carolina and other Republistan states because they're really good at rigging the vote, purging voter files, enacting Jim Crow voter laws, and gerrymandering.
If America had anything resembling representative government, there'd be few Republicans in office and many Republicans in federal prison for massive civil rights violations and political crimes against American humanity.
27
This election is being "stolen" by Democrats using the legal process from the Republican campaign that stole it "fair and square" with good old fashioned election fraud.
That's to say nothing of the unsubstantiated claim that Democrats "stole Socal". Democrats couldn't even unseat Duncan Hunter who was being indicted for spending $250k of campaign contributions on vacations and luxury items.
The Republicans who lost in Southern California lost because not even the CA wealthy can pinch their noses closed hard enough to block out the stink of Trump, and the GOP that has abdicated to him.
5
Do you have any evidence to back up your claim?
7
Voting fraud is voting fraud. It is the most heinous attack on our democracy. It undermines the entire faith in our system of elected officials. What makes it worse is that was done by the Republican party who has a history of voter suppression, crying election fraud, and stealing elections. SAD! Jail and punishment for all involved. The Republican candidate should be disqualified. No new election is required.
12
A woman in Texas was sentenced to five years in prison for unknowingly casting an illegal vote, due to the fact that, technically, she was still a felon. A verdict that was no doubt praised by conservatives.
So, to be consistent, Mr. Dowless should certainly be sentenced to five years for every vote he stole through his premeditated fraud.
Of course, Republicans haven't been "consistent" on the application of the law or anything else since Eisenhower.
No doubt, Mr. Harris will claim that he suspected that the man he hired to "round up votes for him" was a fraud, however, he, "had no idea he would commit such fraud on my behalf!"
It's kind of like saying, "Yeah, I gave an alcoholic a bunch of money. But, how could I have anticipated that he was going to use it to buy booze?"
16
So the Republicans have been right all along. There is voter fraud...
15
Republicans will of course downplay this apparent effort to rig an election as an isolated incident involving party outsiders. In reality, it is symptomatic of how little respect Republicans have for our election system, already evident in their gerrymandering and ballot suppression efforts in many key states. Factor in their outrageous lies about hordes of illegal voters and totally unfounded allegations of election rigging by Democrats, and the GOP's shameless hypocrisy and corrosive contempt for our democracy come into clear focus.
133
The honorable thing for Pastor Harris to do would be to call for a new election.
6
No the honourable thing to do would be to concede the election to the opposition
2
I desperately wish this latest discovered and wholly illegal power grab using the poorest of NC's voters as their victims was being televised and reported on in a national media microscope.
There aren't enough printable words to describe the levels of political chicanery that were implemented here by all involved. Mr. Harris' son may understand the seriousness of his father's dunderheaded decision to throw caution to the wind, not to mention his law degree as well, but Mark Harris,the GOP candidate feigning those crocodile tears of regret, after the fact of being discovered, needs to be disqualified entirely from any further ninth district campaign and re-election activities.
Thank you to the voters of the ninth district for not only suspecting, but calling out the balloting problems in the first place. That is how real democracy works.
11
Mark Harris should be disqualified and a new election should be held , period . He knowingly engaged in fraudulent activities with regard to this election and he has no business being considered for Congress .
Kudos to his son for telling the truth .
10
Lovely to see John Harris show some integrity. It indicates that his father may have had a smidge himself sometime in the past. One wonders if Mark Harris's tears were for himself and what he'd done or whether it was because his son had chosen to tell the truth. Hard to see either way.
I don't see Don Jr or Eric doing the same thing. Loyalty till the end.
10
This scheme sounds like a treatment for an episode of "The Dukes of Hazard" in which Boss Hogg hires Cooter to steal the ballot box from the courthouse but is struck by the General Lee as he crosses the street.
7
The spectacle the republicans make of government in this state is beyond ridiculous. Gerrymandering, bathroom debacle, former governor McCrory all but had to be moved out of office when he lost, Hwy 77 Tolls. And now Mr. Harris. Also Dukes coal ash. They evidently have no shame. He took the “word “ of who told him what he wanted to hear. This man will get you the election. Not the word of his own son who told him the truth. The guy is a criminal. Not only did he want to automatically be seated in Congress , he lied. This all holy(?) man of god? Really? Whose judgement do we trust to go to Washington?
8
The Republican party are the radicals in America. It is they whose actions in every respect endanger our freedom with calls to violence, control of our press, judiciary and yes, fake voting. "Whatever it takes" A little collateral damage" "The means justify the ends." Right people?
But in two years, our national nightmare will be over and Republicans will burn their MAGA hats and swear they never supported their clown in the WH but no one should forget how little it took to turn them into flag waving supporters of repression and violence.
4
The caption from the second photograph:
"Mark Harris, the Republican candidate in North Carolina’s Ninth District race, fought back tears as his son testified."
What a pathetic man.
2
election fraud should be life in prison.
Do we have the best government that money can buy?
Once again, it seems so. Elections thus are not an even playing field.
I see that John Harris has good hair just like his father. And I wonder just what those 'misgivings'were? Too FLY-BY-NIGHT? I bet. What a pathetic spectacle playing out.
So I guess the point of the article is that vote harvesting that stole elections for the Democrats on California and New Mexico and Texas were just more slick and covert. Certainly the illegal activity was limited to one party and one district. Tighten voter ID laws and outlaw harvesting. Stop same day v registration and cut back early voting. Also have voter lists updated every two years. Corruption happens on both sides
2
And North Carolina's voter ID laws prevented this fraud just how? That's right: not at all. Another lesson here (beyond Republican hypocrisy) is that the little voting fraud that does occur has virtually nothing to do with voter impersonation; it's mostly absentee ballot shenanigans. We'll have to wait and see, but it looks like the laws already on the books are more than adequate to deal with the North Carolina case.
10
If Mr. Harris "won" by only 905 votes and given the number of suspected "tampered" absentee ballots, reportedly over 1,200 ballots, it seems that Mr. McCready won the election. Especially given that the ballot tampering occurred in only two small counties.
Another election may not be needed given the math, albeit simplistic.
9
Of those 1,200 tampered ballots, if only 453 had been changed, Harris would lose.
How many Americans have sacrificed to protect our free election process? If this is true, these people are the enemy of every true patriot; are criminals who stole votes and the rights of Americans to chose their lawful leaders. Shame on them and anyone like them.
3
Amateur? The guy was paid $135,000.00.
3
My sympathies to everyone involved who thought power and prestige was more important than integrity. In the end they not neither.
1
Why has no one been arrested for these criminal acts?
2
Because it is happening here.
2
NYT, Thank you, and please keep reporting this story prominently. This needs to be picked up by major media sources to expose the true facts of voter fraud and its perpetrators. I keep checking for a story on this in the WSJ, but nothing...
9
Let no one miss the role of money is this election fraud. If Republican money hadn't paid for the collections it wouldn't have happened.
Just one more example of the corruption bred by Citizens United.
12
Expel that state from the union. They do not belong.
1
Hardline critics of voter fraud like Fox News ran this as their top news story...just kidding.
8
Have a hard time understanding why Mark Harris doesn't concede the race: he didn't win.
7
He is following McCrory’s lead. If I pretend I’m the Governor/ Congressman maybe they will just let me be.
Regardless of whether the absentee ballots in question nullify the 905 ballot margin there needs to be a new election. The process was corrupted, the size of the corruption is irrelevant.
Only a new, supervised election will remove the taint. Otherwise whomever is declared the winner will have this shadow hanging over them and their legitimacy always called into question.
2
Hilarious. Democrats harvested hundreds of thousands of absentee ballots in Orange County, California, reversing all of the congressional wins of GOP candidates. All!
3
And your proof is?
6
In Georgia, ironically Stacey Abrams Group Fair Fight Ga has been successful in getting a State House Seat overturned in the courts not once but twice. The biggest Irony is it is in rural NW Ga in Habersham County, plus parts of another. Only Republicans ran. Not a single Democrat ran. The first race, they had excluded voters from the district. One candidates had a co worker of the wife remark to her that she tried to vote for him but his name wasn’t on the ballot. This was the incumbent so they had voted for him before. The first election was thrown out.
Then election number 2, there is a difference of only two votes separating the candidates. Fair fight Ga has presented evidence that over 30 voters no longer lived in the district during the past 30 days prior to the elections and weren’t eligible to vote. The judge ruled their was clear evidence at least 10 people did not live in the district and voted. The margin is 2 votes. This is an all Republican district. That had no Democrat running. The primary last June would have settled it. The next election is March. The judge removed the guy who the R’s had already seated in the Georgia Senate. So he will miss the rest of the session.
1
Harris Sr. figured, ‘Hey, it’s North Carolina, who’s gonna catch me on this, we been doing it for years!’ And despite Harris Jr’s damning testimony, who believes Pastor Harris didn’t know what he was getting? Another win for Democrats and Black voters.
3
I’m shocked at the stance of the NYT as expressed in the tagline of this article. Downplaying this voter fraud as “amateurish”. Really? Are you so intimidated by the guy who cries “fake news” that you have to make this awful attempt by local Republican Party operatives seem less dramatic than it is? The fraud seemed very systematic to me, and the links to the GOP candidate completely clear. Why add this kind of caveat and explanation then? You don’t do democratic process any favors when you do that. The reporter who wrote this piece needs to be called out for this strange subjective interpretation. I’m disappointed.
17
@Mohan Sikka This is the NY Times lately. Playing down all the criminal activities of republicans or pretending that both parties are equal.
8
Yeah — super unclear why!
@Mohan Sikka
Probably because it’s North Carolina, rural, has that significant number of people living below the poverty level. Perps probably have accents that are fun for NYC sophisticates to mock.
I wish the father had the integrity his son has. Let’s get the son to run!
6
Clearly, the democrat won the election. Why does there need to be another election? When you remove the false votes the democrat won. There is no need for another election.
Also, Mark Harris needs to be held accountable for paying someone to steal votes. Why is it republicans never see jail time? Harris job was to safe guard the election, but he then deliberately stole votes. He needs to go to prison for a very long time.
13
@Andy Thomas And why has Dowless not been arrested? These criminals are blatant with their criminality. And what more is there to know before declaring the Democrat the winner?
4
Yet another sad day for our democracy, growing more fragile every day thanks to a totally supine and spineless GOP. Not a word of rebuke from the national GOP party members. Plus, the Trumptanic policy move that has flown under the radar in the past week of cutting funding for election cybersecurity despite evidence that Russia and N. Korea are ramping up their cyber efforts to attack us again on multiple fronts. Complicity anyone? I don't know how much more proof we need to show how deeply Hair Furor and the merry band of GOP enablers are in league with Vlad and now possibly Kim as well.
15
We don't have a democracy. We have a fascist dictatorship.
2
John Harris' testimony destroyed the claims of his father and his father's campaign manager that they had no knowledge of the illegal practices of Dowless. From a NBC News report, here are some quotes from John Harris' testimony:
“I love my dad, I love my mom, O.K.? I certainly have no vendetta against them, no family scores to settle, O.K.? I think they made mistakes in this process and they certainly did things differently than I would have done,” Harris said while his father looked on wiping back tears.
"We have got to come up with a way to transcend our partisan politics, and the exploitation of processes like this for political gain. That goes for both parties, Democrats and Republicans. And Libertarians," he said.
“I’m just left thinking that we can all do a lot better than this.”
Why did Harris testify against his father? I think the answer is obvious - John Harris is an Assistant U.S. Attorney in North Carolina who takes seriously his sworn duty to always act with integrity and support the rule of law
16
@Allan Langland
Wait until Trump finds out. He'll be shrieking, "NO Loyalty! No Loyalty!"
2
Mark Harris knew what he was doing when he hired a known ballot-collecting felon to help him win the election.
The entire district knew what was going on, even people in a fast-food restaurant.
If the guy who benefited from such sketchy tactics in the primary and again in the general election didn't realize he was treading on thin ice, he's not involved enough in the district to represent his people in Congress.
11
If the North Carolina State Board of Elections does not require a new election based on all of this evidence it will confirm how corrupt our political system is in the United Sates. It will also demonstrate how insincere the Republican party is in Carolinians election fraud. Note I referred to “election fraud”, not “voter fraud” which investigations prove is a Republican obession and fantasy. All of the rigging is being done by corrupt politicians and those who support them - not we voters.
If the current fraudulent election results are validated, North Carlinians need to take to the streets and demand new elections as well as the resignation of the board.
3
And all those years, I thought that the Republicans wanted to suppress the vote not harvest them. Silly of me, now I realized that they want to suppress the democratic votes and harvest the Republican votes.
12
Harris’s son warned him of exactly how Dowless was cheating, Harris ignored the warning, and now there could be a new election?
No! When you cheat you forfeit the contest. Period. McCready should be sent to Washington ASAP. Let’s not take the chance that a cheater could ultimately win because he was teary-eyed when he got caught.
13
The deceit and deception by the evangelical minister Harris in the North Carolina congressional race is where the light needs to be shown on evangelicals today: Self-centered fanaticism, under the guise of any faith, is about power and control and nothing to do with God. The words “Jesus” and “evangelicals” no longer go together, with conveniently fabricated enemies at the cost of their morality and souls.
17
Is there a school or online course for self-righteous but lapsed evangelical pastors on how to cry for cameras? Jim Bakker, Ted Haggart, Jimmy Swaggart and the rest of the school's hypocritical alumni would be proud of Harris's performance yesterday. His son is a brave guy.
18
@MCV207
These preachers know that, no matter how heinous their behavior, they just have to go before the sheeple that belong to their church, and say they have been redeemed! ReDEEMED, I say! Praise Jesus!
If he has forgiven me, you have to too.
1
I have yet to hear from any publc statement from a democratic official on this issue. Given the constant accusations by Trump and republicans of of voter fraud among illegal immigrants and others, Pelosi and other democrats should hold a press conference to denounce this and use Trump's favorite adjective, "disgraceful" to describe this act. Instead, I read about Kamala Harris' proposal to rename Columbus Day Indegenous People's Day. What a stupid waste.
4
California legalized “ballot harvesting” after the 2016 election. As a result, many Republicans who held substantial leads on election day lost to Democratic opponents when absentee ballots were counted. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Republicans in Orange County—a Republican stronghold—lost every House seat to Democrats after 250,000 ballots were dropped off by ballot harvesters.
No one is alleging voter fraud, but no one knows whether it occurred because there is no reliable way of detecting voter harvesting fraud. But In the next election, California Republicans will organized their own ballot harvesting squads. As the ballot harvesting battle escalates, so will the temptation to cheat.
Now that ballot harvesting has proven devastatingly effective, ballot harvesting will determine election outcome in every state where it is legal unless something is done to stop it. States should outlaw ballot harvesting while taking steps to make it easier for voters to cast their votes in person.
3
Why are we talking about a new election?
Two people run for an office. One of them is discovered to be cheating (and I don’t mean little improprieties around the edges; I mean systematic election fraud like, um, this). Why not simply disqualify the one and declare the other candidate the winner?
19
@George Exactly. Couldn't be simpler. All this horse and pony show when they already know he cheated.
3
The only good part of this abuse is that the Republicans have screamed "fake voting against the Democrats and it is they who are guilty in North Carolina." I do not buy that the candidate did not know what was going on and I appreciate that his son has made clear that he informed his father more than once. The father cannot lie that he did not know...he was told and he did not care. So as far as I am concerned the ex-con Dowless is still actively engaged in criminal activity and should be prosecuted (too bad this State does not seem to be able to grasp this fact) and the election of Harris should be forfeited because it was he who employed this criminal, knowingly, informed by his son, who is at the least familiar with the law.
7
Vote-by-mail has always been vulnerable to abuse. Nothing in current NC voting law would stop a family member with access to someone's drivers' license number from requesting an absentee ballot on the family member's behalf, having it sent to an address different than the voter's residence, filling it out without the voter's knowledge, and mailing the ballot back to the state to be counted. Considering the nation's low levels of voter participation, there is a lot of room for abuse here. This story suggests we need to look closer at our vote-by-mail system.
4
I’m sure, as a former pastor and a man of God, that Mr. Harris will do the right thing and concede the race. After all, it’s the moral thing to do.
Re-reading what I just wrote, my milk went through my nose.
32
@Angelus Ravenscroft - Your comment almost sent my smoothie across my keyboard. Thanks for the much needed laugh.
3
As a lifelong New England’s I would have said “cabinet “.
Harris had been a pastor? His son warned him? Why would he let himself hire someone who was suspected of fraud? If he ran a background check, he’d have known that that man had been convicted of fraudulent behavior. Sounds like Harris thought he was part of a crooked system where everyone were crooks and he did not mind joining them.
14
These people are clearly amateurs, especially as compared with ACORN!
OK NYT you've managed to do some good journalism in finding GOP voter fraud so now how about extending into areas where Democrat voter fraud is well known but rarely written up. Here's your chance to prove Trump wrong about you.
2
@David - I'll bite, provide a list of places where it's well known and provide your sources for this information.
11
Why the fuss? Don’t they know just white men are supposed to vote in north carolinie?
6
"Mr. Dowless, 63, who has a criminal record that includes felony convictions for perjury and fraud and has worked for politicians in both parties,..."
Does that mean that this man had also been hired by Democrats?
I'd be interested to have the NYT investigate and report who these Democrats were. Were their elections also tainted?
1
The article said that he’d worked for candidates in both parties. It seems to have been an old local problem.
I am someone others might call a liberal Democrat maybe even a Socialist. But I absolutely agree with you. The NY Time is obligated to investigate and dig out the possibility of this man corrupting other elections. However, having said that, even if in reality other elections were corrupted by this man, without evidence not much can be said about them. But I am whole-heartedly behind forming a bipartisan commission to look into anything this man has touched and to rigorously see if evidence can be gathered to uncover the truth.
This man is a wannabe Roger Stone, a self-confessed “dirty trickster” who helped multiple Republican politicians, including our current President, get elected.
The GOP loves crooked “consultants” (and even foreign powers like Russia and Saudi Arabia) who will enable them hang on to power, even while they cry crocodile tears about “voter fraud” and use it as an excuse for voter suppression.
12
The Trump/Putin alliance is getting threadbare and transparent. When Trump goes down, and the facts of how much Putin has stolen from his own people, they will EAT HIM!
As a NC resident the only thing about this lawless, illegal, underhanded, shameful voting scam is the notion that a life-long Bladen County Republican politician didn’t know who and what Mr. Dowless is. Really? He’s a convicted felon known for “fixing” vote counts! Even his son, an assistant prosecutor warned him. Those crocodile tears are self-serving only because YOU GOT CAUGHT!
Mr. Harris and his campaign manager committed crimes and shoul be charged accordingly. It defies logic that he be given another chance as a candidate. His illegal vote-rigging campaign have shown NC residents his true character.
15
So Trump is right. Elections are rigged. By the GOP.
What a terrible thing. If they must call new elections, Mark Harris lacks legitimacy. That is how Chavez won his second elections, Cheating.
1
Oh boo hoo. “Pastor” bad apple needs to step down and get out - he knew exactly what was going on. So tired of these deranged conservative Christian lying politicians. The people need to rise up and clean up. North Carolina and its racist crony Republican politicians, your time is short. We’re getting our pitchforks ready and we’re going to storm the capital.
4
Ironic. The GOP who claimed voter fraud was rampant, which until now never was, were the very perpetrators of the first example of being caught in such a fraud. Makes me wonder why they protested so much in the past. Have they gotten away with this kind of fraudulent actions in the past? Makes you wonder doesn't it?
6
Are we really supposed to believe that Dowless committed these crimes pro bono? Just for the love of felony election fraud? A go the extra mile kinda guy, no extra pay needed?
I suppose it's plausible that Dowless saw this election as a tryout for a position with Trump 2020. After all, some of the 2016 crew won't be available for awhile.
More likely is that he was hired, paid, and expected to do exactly what he did: change the vote count in favor of the person who was footing the bill.
Harris still wants to be seated in Congress? Ridiculous. The relevant question: " is Harris one of the people who deserves a seat in a jail cell?"
6
@LT
Unfortunately, this piece is quite incomplete. Dowless was paid over $1,200 per month and expenses and his "workers" $100-125 for every 50 ballots they collected:
" Harris campaign paid Red Dome more than $428,000" (Dec.2018 North Carolina local report)who then hired Dowless. Please read the Charlotte or Raleigh News Observer for comprehensive info.
That the NYT left out any mention of the money Dowless was paid by Andy Yates' company, is disappointing if were are to get a good picture of how this operation worked: Merely mentioning the $3 or 4 dollars collected by others mischaracterizes the depth of the fraud.
8
Mark Harris. A long-time pastor. Wants to "serve" in OUR U.S. Congress. Since he's a republican "man of god" he's got the lying down.
Thanks to his son, John, for having the courage and ethical values to testify. It must have been very hard.
A new election must be called and serious protection of ballots enforced. Enough corruption.
5
Republicans give themselves away.
They yell "voter fraud" over and over. It's them committing voter fraud
They yell "lock her up". They were committing the crimes
They yell "fake news". They lie more than they tell the truth, and they have their own propaganda "Fox news" machine .
And on and on. It seems anything they say, it is really themselves who are the ones doing the wrong they complain about.
301
@S B
They’re projecting to attempt to divert their wrongdoings onto the opponent.
15
@S B
From the article:
.."Mr. Dowless, 63, who has a criminal record that includes felony convictions for perjury and fraud and has worked for politicians in both parties,...".
It would appear that it isn't just Republicans who are committing voter fraud. In fact, Mr. Harris' son testified that he believed his father lost an election to a candidate that Mr. Dowless was working for at that time.
The division in this country is fueled not by the idiot in the oval office, but by the polarized few who would rather point fingers at each other than admit the major parties are both broken, morally bankrupt and in need of overhauls.
5
@B Dawson
Well, go figure! In this case, as in most cases, the perps are self-described Republicans AND self-professed Christians. Isn't it funny how that narrative repeats itself over and over and over....and over again. It's real easy to see that, as a clear republican, you are being an apologist for your party. But the malfeasance the Republicans do is so obviously by design, with only the occasional Democrat falling into such chicaneries, that anyone who self describes as a Republican, should be immediately suspect; WHO they voted for, and continue to vote for, is proof they don't understand American values, nor are they intelligent by any definition of the word. So disastrous has this been for the rest of us, that the party should be de-legitimized. But the narrative will say it's the fault of the Dems: way to blame the rape victim (another common Republican value: remember crybaby Kavanaugh?) ! So, don't act surprised: all the Republicans profess, stupidly, their innocence; then blame any setbacks on the other side. This article to me proves that the Republican party is hell-bent on destroying America with their crooked machinations, immoral values, and pro-autocrat stances. So, please, don't get all knee-jerk defensive for your party: you've already destroyed the nation, and everyone knows who in our country did that!
17
next time, hire the Watergate burglars
7
The republican fear tactics are working. I now fear all republicans and their corrupt ways working against the American citizenry.
6
If Mark Harris, a member of the House is incapable of determining whether McDowless’ “tactics” were illegal before hiring him, whether by outside council or in the advice of his son who is a practicing attorney thus presumably is familiar with the law, it seems to me he isn’t very qualified to be a member of congress.
Oh yes, he’s a former pastor, I guess professed belief in Jesus Christ as his savior is all the qualification he needs.
12
Spare me the crocodile tears. Each of these individual deserve punishment especially in light of NC sentencing a young black women recently to 5 years in prison for voting because she didn't realize she was ineligible because she was on probation.
What these individuals did is worse because they knowingly committed fraud for pay.
18
So what is it with these Southern preacher-types, who when caught doing something wrong cry in public? The miracle of conservative Christians is that they think it is OK for a preacher to do wrong, confess in an embarrassing tearful manner, and then get forgiveness for the sin. The fraudulent election should be tossed, Harris get some jail time, and start over with a new candidate.
8
What is that deafening silence? Where is the roar of outrage from Kobach, Trump and other GOP con artists?
12
The irony of it all is too much.
The very ones who day and night rail against voter theft wind up being the thieves.
And all I hear from the oh-so-patriotic congressional Republicans now is....crickets chirping.
5
Golly, how did Fox News miss reporting an actual voter fraud story? Jeepers, why aren't Republicans apoplectic with fury; howling with indignation?
12
The fact that the candidate had to ask if what Dowless was doing was legal tells me that he was suspicious to begin with but went ahead anyway.
5
They can only win by cheating. In one form, or another. Lock them ALL up.
2020. Bigly.
4
Republicans reserve for themselves the right to lie, cheat and steal votes.
6
This is precisely why your elections have become a pathetic joke. These clowns would never have gotten away with these crimes in Canada. Everything and everybody involved has been regulated by an organization called Elections Canada; a non-partisan organization created for the sole purpose of making elections fair; transparent; and accountable to address all suspicious activities immediately to police to investigate and bring criminal charges immediately. In my 63 years there has NEVER been an incident such as the one in North Carolina (and Georgia ?); because everyone knows they would NEVER get away with it. Your elections look like something created by P.T.Barnum!
13
"Mark Harris, a longtime pastor" disregarded the counsel of his prosecutor son to engage a criminal to win a seat in congress.
Praise, Jesus.
7
Harris should go to jail instead of Congress. He is a criminal. He and his associate should face jail time.
3
@ASHRAF CHOWDHURY
And a huge fine. $100,000 to $500,000 each depending on their individual actions.
Didn't the Democrats do this in California?
@ Erik site your sources or quit pulling the old GOP trope, “both sides do it”. Your chump Kobach searched and searched and could find a shread of evidence to justify their racist voter suppression.
6
@Erik
When? Specifics, please, are needed for our judging and outrage.
6
The South has never believed in a two party system! After the Civil War Jim Crow and the democrats; After LBJ it was Jim Crow in the republicans!
4
"The scheme has called into question whether Mark Harris, the Republican candidate, really outpolled his Democratic opponent, Dan McCready." . . . "Mr. Harris had a 905-vote lead over Mr. McCready when state officials refused to certify his victory because of concerns about fraud." . . . "The board’s decision, which could come this week, MIGHT (emphasis mine) prompt a new election and is certain to reverberate through the Ninth District and into Congress."
Are you serious?
If a birthday cake is missing from the kitchen table, only you and your dog are in the house, and you haven't had any, guess who ate the cake?
Dan McCready should be declared the winner in that dirty little election. Mark Harris should be investigated and indicted along with L. McCrae Dowless for voter fraud, assuming the inquiry is as thorough as the deceit.
201
@Thomas Hughes You saved me from having to write a comment. The ONLY way to kill this practice is to award the seat to the "other" party - PERIOD. A new vote is like a slap on the wrist. Shut it down hard !
31
@john While I like the idea of punishment, I circle back to the will of the people. Once they have all the truthful information, they should get to vote again.
5
@john Nonsense. You don't show election fairness and integrity by being being equally unfair and dishonest in return.
Election wins are not mantle trophies.
3
As this horrible tale of subversion of the democratic voting process unfolds, the differential in votes ceases to be the determinant in whether a new election should be held. The immediate will of the electorate needs to be expressed and the best form of that is a new election regardless of whether the criminal actions amount to 906 votes.
85
@Jim Tokuhisa A new election is too mild a response. This candidate should be declared the loser, and I mean Harris. End of story.
10
If the solution is a new election, it schooldays be done without Mr. Harris.
1
I guess this means Republicans really do have credible knowledge of voter fraud after all.
25
mark harris--another 'pastor' who is the antithesis of what a person of god is supposedly like.
the usa is full of them and their true believers who have to be among the more hypocritical citizens of the self styled greatest country on the planet.
standards of how to become a 'pastor' must be very high.
5
"Mr. Dowless, 63, who has a criminal record that includes felony convictions for perjury and fraud and has worked for politicians in both parties"
Whatever works eh?
Most ex-cons can't get decent jobs and the Pols in N.C. are keeping this guy in business and thriving.
Up to now.
3
"Mr. Dowless, 63, who has a criminal record that includes felony convictions for perjury and fraud and has worked for politicians in both parties..."
"...Has worked for politicians of BOTH PARTIES..."
Good men are so hard to find.
2
Ballot harvesting is legal in some states, including California, where Democrats have complete control of state government.
In some districts last fall Democratic campaign workers went door to door collecting ballots.
California also allows election day voter registration.
The CA Department of Motor Vehicles can automatically register people to vote. [and the DMV has so far made 23,000 mistakes, it was reported last year.]
Since the Democrats have CA government in their control, they must find ballot harvesting, etc very useful.
Blah blah blah. “But what about [insert diversionary object here]?“
23,000 mistakes, alleged to be “reported” somewhere, for a population of 40 million? Let’s say roughly a third of that number votes, so 13 million. That would make your statistic about 0.18 percent of eligible voters. And of course I’m giving the argument the benefit of the doubt that all 23,000 mistakes were made with an intent to commit voter fraud. It only gets more laughable from there.
In other words,
“He uses statistics like a drunken man uses a lamppost: for support rather than illumination.”
4
@Garagesaler
If you have evidence that CA collectors filled-out ballots for voters, or illegally signed as witnesses - you should report your information as soon as possible!
Same if you have evidence that CA DMV skewed mistakes to one political nominee. Because that is what happened in NC.
8
That the vote guru "has a criminal record that includes felony convictions for perjury and fraud and has worked for politicians in both parties" sure does make it seem like it was, at the very least, extremely poor judgment to hire him. Has our political system become so entirely corrupt that it attracts only power-mad grifters?
1
I believe these kind of scams are nationwide .
I have no faith in American electoral democracy whatsoever.
The election of trump is a blatant example of the corruptive system that has metastasized this once Great Country.
It is time all Americans join forces to bring back true democracy, eliminating the perverse influx of Wall Street and foreign powers.
2
So let me get this straight: the party that routinely alleges massive voter fraud without a shred of evidence has been caught red-handed doing... voter fraud? Psychological projection and rank hypocrisy are the GOP brand.
253
@Keef In cucamonga
From the article:
.."Mr. Dowless, 63, who has a criminal record that includes felony convictions for perjury and fraud and has worked for politicians in both parties,..".
It would seem a shred of evidence might be emerging...
2
I'm a hard-line Republican, but I have common sense as well as decency, this is wrong on every account, we need a new election and this man needs to go to jail, that's the end of it.
220
It seems to me, Mark Harris, has proved himself inept, uninterested in the law, and downright shady at the absolute least.
Having disregarded the advice/opinion of the lawyer nearest to him, that the tactics being employed were illegal. His tears and his claim of ignorance should not be mistaken for newly discovered integrity.
Mark Harris should not be in Congress and he should not be given another chance to run.
41
@There Thank you for your decency and integrity.
2
@There
Charley Paris is right.
After Mr. Harris is proved to have cheated in the first election, he should go to jail with Mr. Dowless and not be rewarded by giving him another chance to "win."
But maybe we misunderstand your words, There. Your words do not say which man should go to jail.
Do you mean Mr. Harris, Mr. Dowless, or both of them?
7
Sounds like an episode of "Elections Mayberry Style", if it were not so serious.
Run the election again. Its the right thing to do and it will slow down this kind of crime.
7
I went to the original Women's March in Washington. My friend and I were interviewed by two journalists from Japan. "Where are you from?" "North Carolina" "ohhhhhhh" "But we're from Asheville!" It is pretty bad when the awfulness of your state's reputation reaches all the way to Japan. This hearing is just more North Carolina awfulness that seems never ending. 1 in 4 below poverty line. That sounds about right. Bet they don't have health insurance as NC refused Medicaid expansion. One positive--it's a really pretty state, from the sea to the mountains. Come visit, then leave.
15
Election Fraud is a rallying cry for the GOP. They should know, even donald trump told us his election was rigged. He was right.
9
Is there no end to North Carolina's scandals?
First it was Duke power making its customers pay for the coal ash spill.
Tillis' dirty campaign against Hagen is notable.
Then we had the bathroom bill. Who knows just how many billions in industrial/economic development were lost because of that.
Still waiting for the fix to gerrymandering here in western NC.
And now this? I guess we should consider ourselves lucky it --apparently -- only happened in one area.
Let's see how the election board fixes it. No matter what hey do, three democrats v. two republicans will be pilloried.
59
@jhbev And I thought Florida was bad.
1
From out here in Arizona...thanks, North Carolina Republicans!
1
@jhbev
You may be right about the Board being bashed regardless of outcome.
Still, I'm hoping that given the evidence presented to the Election Board, regardless of party, all five members will unanimously.
4
The simple solution would be to call for a new election. The last one was tainted.
As to absentee ballots, why not require the voter’s thumb print on each ballot submitted? That would be very hard to fake.
@Bill Seng
I have a couple little questions.
So your thumbprint idea. How does that work, exactly? What would a voters thumbprint be checked against? Is there some db somewhere that contains all voters’ thumbprints? And some machine that runs the ballots (all of which have potentially different form factors) through it, scan them, and magically compares them to this huge database? And also it pops out the questionable ones to some thumbprint expert to double check? And then someone turns fake ones over to the vote police?
But those are just small issues. My real question is, “Who the heck has an ink pad sitting around their home?”
What a story. So disappointing, but not that surprising, that this happened. Good thing election officials were alert to the irregularities.
1
If these people can’t see that what they did was wrong it can likely be traced to a generation of school boards dumbing down education standards in civics and history. Whatever is taught in Sunday school isn’t much better. Where is the morality in all this?
2
The tears Mark Harris is holding back should be tears of joy and pride for his son who upheld his duty as an attorney and spoke the truth. You will never see such tears from Trump Sr.
9
This story leaves out some important information: John Harris, the candidate's son, is a lawyer, previously in private practice and now an assistant U.S. attorney in eastern NC. He provided emails to the elections board that back up his assertion that he told his dad repeatedly about his doubts and questions about Dowless. See the Charlotte Observer and Washington Post stories for details.
2
My heart aches for our country.
1
Let me tell you something about North Carolina, specifically Eastern North Carolina: this is the poorest place in the state, the opioid and meth epidemics are off the charts, everyone in counties like Bladen know everyone, they all know it's illegal, and it is how the GOP machine in this state operated and has operated since time immemorial, feeding off the poverty and ignorance of their voting base. These counties are run like fiefdoms and people know who to hire to buy them an election and no one, but no one, can plead ignorance. In 2018 Trump signs the size of cars dotted the landscape and Evangelical Christianity and Baptists hold sway. The economy is little to nonexistent and the rule of law is less important that unthinking belief in an illusory past and men who "looked like my father". This happens in Congressional districts and counties all around the state, where African Americans are threatened with ever greater burdens to voting. Our school boards are overrun with lifetime (mostly white) members who resist change of any kind and the GOP majority in the state legislature reflects this. The real miracle here is that Harris's son testified as he did (honestly). I can't help but wonder about the details: is he trading honest testimony for not going down in flames for other crimes? Curious minds want to know.
8
Am struck by the great number of undereducated minimum wage/ low wage employees in service/ fast food/ agricultural labor, etc., desperate for a way out and up. They are fodder for all manner of grey and dark schemes that seem to offer a window out of perpetual toil on the margins. Easy prey for a guy like Dowless.
Or trump university, for another example.
4
$2.50 to $3 per ballot? Come to Hoboken NJ where the local political machines will pay $50 to $75 per ballot collected. (Google "Hoboken voter fraud").
Now I see why so many retired people from NJ are moving to North Carolina. Stuff really is cheaper down there.
I wonder whether Harris, being a man who proclaims the Gospel, will just offer to give up the seat since he did not win it fairly.
That Republicans don't vet their personnel, operatives or sources is commonplace by now.
But it is probably too much to ask them to vet themselves.
I don't understand why those who violate a fundamental Constitutional right are allowed a do-over. In my opinion, the only just legal consequence for this tainted race is declaring a victory for Harris' opponent, while Harris serves a term in jail.
5
@Cathy
Dear Cathy, Excellent point.... he knowingly broke the law and he gets a doo over? Why is he not facing a criminal investigation?
1
The political left has been asking the political right to provide evidence of voter fraud for years. Well, here you have it. Feel free to use this as an example when someone asks you to define irony.
191
@Tom
Irony and may I add projecting guilt onto the opponent. When I was I child, there was a famous saying amongst kids, he who smelt it first dealt it.
7
And this is just tip of the iceberg. Voter manipulation is alive and well in the United States ultimately it is actions by the likes of Mr. Dowless that are concrete proof.
But the right's effort to thwart voters takes no many forms and unfortunately the courts are equal abattoirs to voter suppression.
We as a nation have a long way to go to undo all the ills facing our electoral process. Let this be a lesson and a call to action for voter reform.
16
Having worked for honest candidates for election in North Carolina as an amateur volunteer, the schemes outlined in the article are the opposite of unsophisticated. Given the fact that candidates have volunteers stand in front of the polling places passing out information, voters are used to being contacted in person by workers trying to convince them to vote for one candidate or another, even at home. The illegal acts by the Harris campaign would not have attracted much attention or would have been overlooked. This what happened. It might have worked.
10
The only thing incredible about this is the notion that it is a one-time incident and not a commonly used voter fraud employed by Republicans because absentee voters trend conservative. Remember that Trump’s voter fraud commission refused to look at the absentee ballot issue, despite the fact that it was cited as far back as the Bush v. Gore 2000 election as a source of fraudulent votes for Bush. Why Democrats let this, and the integrity of digital voting machines slide when occupied all branches of elected government is beyond me.
46
@Maggie The Democrats tried to include comprehensive voter rights legislation recently in the House. If only the Republicans would get on board we might be able to claim a semblance of a democracy again. But at this point the Republicans realize that a fair and equal election system spells their doom.
So they cheat and block such legislation as if their lives depended on it - because their lives in many ways do depend on winning in any way possible, legal, illegal, whatever.
House Democrats unveil first major legislative package of voting, campaign finance and ethics overhauls
https://www.rollcall.com/news/politics/house-democrats-unveil-first-major-legislative-package-of-voting-campaign-finance-and-ethics-overhauls
4
"Gee, I didn't know it was wrong" is NOT a defense. And it's certainly not grounds for certifying a clearly corrupted election result.
For 20-some years, I watched exactly how NC went from Dem to Republican -- especially in judge races, which went a long way toward "legitimizing" things like gerrymandering.
If this election is certified and the results allowed to stand, it would be essentially the same as the state board saying "we don't know it's wrong."
63
It defies all logic to believe that Harris didn’t know what he was hiring. This was before his son testified. Anything other than a new election would be unacceptable.
54
Mr Harris needs to concede the election to his opponent. It’s the only honorable thing to do.
5
If Harris is given this seat or gets the privilege of a re-do election then North Carolina is not serious about cracking down on and prosecuting voter fraud. The situation is clear here after days of testimony. I'll give the Harris camp credit, they are doing everything to get him the seat without prosecution or a redo. If this situation had involved anybody other than a white male, action would have already been taken. Harris most likely will get the benefit of the doubt and get his seat in Congress one way or another. The GOP continues to show in every way it can just how corrupt, arrogant, and immoral it has become. I wish the North Carolina Board would do the right thing here--but I have little hope that it will.
41
Please remember: the US attorney in charge of Eastern district of NC was removed from prior office for withholding evidence from defense lawyers. Current White House put him in his current seat. He had no interest in this case, just prosecution of someone who voted without citizenship.
15
This article does not mention that John Harris is an assistant prosecutor in North Carolina and that his suspicions of illegal behavior by Mr. Dowless were backed by firm knowledge, when he told his father not to hire the man. Mark Harris knew who he was hiring and why, as did Yates, the campaign manager. That makes them both crooks , as much as Dowless.
72
@Michael
He only became an Assistant prosecutor in October 2018. He was in private practice prior. His suspicions and verbal warnings to his father came long before that.
A number of commenters dwell on the political parties involved. Integrity of the vote should be a non-partisan issue to protect the system itself. Let's close the loopholes, have a verifiable system and resist the imposition of unreasonable impediments to access. That is all.
12
@Arthur
Well, under Republicans integrity of the vote was never a bi-partisan issue, first and foremost their gerrymandering. And don't you remember Trump saying that had not millions of non-citizens voted for Hillary Clinton, he would have won the general vote. Hellooooo, where did his Voter Fraud Panel end up? In the trash bin.
3
Ignorance of the law is No Excuse esp running for Congress. Harris allowed voter Fraud to win election. He should be arrested too!
49
Harris disregarded the warnings of his own son - who is a prosecutor, no less.
The twin Republican standards of greed and willingness to cheat are once again on display for all the world to see.
30
@ Fascist Fighter
"The twin Republican standards of greed and willingness to cheat are once again on display for all the world to see".
And that is why we now have a fascist and self-enriching Con-Man at the helm of this government.
4
It's so hard to send in an absentee ballot that giving it to a stranger was easier?!
10
The voters who gave up their ballots are culpable too.
Soooo, this is why republicans are so hot on voter ID laws. Who’d thunk it.
34
We are now almost in our fourth election cycle we mounting evidence that the GOP over four decades has won the Presidency and filled state and national legislative bodies with a mix of voter suppression and just plain fraudulent practices. I know there are a lot of the issues on the Democratic plate, but restoring the one person/one vote ideal should be right up there. It should be noted that this pattern of institutional cheating has saddled the American people with unnecessary wars in the middle east, a financial collapse in 2008, the gutting of the middle class, a climate crisis..I could go on...but the level of cheating in our voting process has cost this country dearly.
63
You are completely correct in your assessment.
1
Everyone involved in the voter fraud scheme should be treated as if they were an inner city African American breaking the law.
Why?
So many crimes are committed in our cities by those living on the edge, for whom every dollar is precious.
These voter fraud people (other than their leaders) similarly seem to be living at the point where every possible dollar is too precious to turn away. Their situation may be sad. But their crimes undercut a vital and essential component of our democracy. They must be punished.
If there is sympathy for their circumstance, that should extend to every poor person convicted of crime.
And candidate Harris? He and his campaign need plenty of investigation to determine how much they actually knew about votes that were and would be stolen for them. Dowless was hired specifically for his prowess with absentee ballots. Harris' son pointed out a problem specifically with what Dowless had done with absentee ballots in previous campaigns. Despite this, Dowless remained in place to do what he does. Tears in the courtroom should not be allowed to shield criminal conduct.
36
His step daughter testified against him. His son testified against him. If there is a do over on the election, I have this feeling Harris won't be running on family values.
29
Just think if it was the democrats who did this. This would give FOX and right wing zealots enough reason to argue for even more voter suppression for another decade or two. They have no credibility in complaining about the self serving, anti democratic myth of voter fraud but I doubt that will sop them.
26
This is just the most visible and easily proven election fraud the Republicans have engaged in recent decade. Their larger and more dangerous scheme is the constant stream of lies and emotional manipulation that the Republican party and their media surrogates feed to their naive base to persuade them to vote against their own interests. It strikes me as an evil form of herding. Republican base voters trust their lying billionaires and Bible thumping Mark Harris's to do them no harm, and all of America gets dragged into the ensuing economic and spiritual slaughterhouse.
22
@Deane
“Bible thumping....” You said that right.
In this state, as in so many southern states, the local (primarily Baptist) preachers have greater influence on voting than any other factor in rural areas.
Democrats are considered by these fundamentalists to be quite literally in concert with the Devil. Seriously, it is reduced in their minds to the simple, and terrible, certainly that Democrats - all Democrats - stand in direct opposition to the word of God. Why else, they would ask, do Democrats believe in “killing of babies,” promoting LGBTQ lifestyles, supporting the acceptance of “heathen” Muslims.....I could go on.
These are minds that are absolutely made up, and completely closed to considering anything that challenges their simplistic and self-righteous belief system. They are more willing to believe that someone like Trump is a “good man” than that a trans neighbor should be allowed in the Army.
This is what we are fighting, and so far it’s a losing fight in the South, for sure - and increasingly in most of rural America, I would argue.
4
This is what it winning at any price comes down to, Mark Harris; you son testifying against you on the stand. You knew, of course you knew, but you didn't see anything wrong with a little cheating as long as you won and didn't get caught.
I live in NC and we don't need to send another representative to congress who knows right from wrong but chooses wrong.
34
And he was a pastor??? Wow. That says so much. If he had any integrity or morality he would himself call for a new election. Oh, wait. That would be the ethical thing to do. Guess the divinity school attended by Harris didn’t teach ethics (or morals). Gosh. I could really go in with this, but I’ll just leave it there .....
2
Well maybe now the Republicans will believe there is real voter fraud on their part. But why cheat in a district you’ve won since 1963? It’s like an athlete winning a best player award and still using steroids.
6
Tom Brady cheated with deflated balls, even though the Patriots have won a bunch of titles. Cheaters are going to cheat.
2
But when a state board lawyer asked whether she or Mr. Dowless had broken the law, Ms. Britt replied: “Did I know I was doing wrong? No ma’am, I didn’t."
That's the state of education in this country -- she didn't know filling in a ballot for someone else was wrong.
And that's why Republicans have defunded education for decades.
119
@citybold
Republicans prefer to fund private jails rather than education. That serves multiple interests at once. Of course it's also possible that Ms. Britt was lying.
20
I hope several people are going to be serving long prison sentences for voter fraud in North Carolina especially Harris Sr. I’m not holding my breath if Republicans are in charge there.
21
Yeah, don’t count on it.
This article does not mention the fact that the North Carolina Republican Party has continued to agitate for the election results to be certified, with Mr Harris as the victor. The NC Republicans care only about retaining power, suppressing minorities, and promoting a good-ole-boy racist culture. As a child of the 60’s, I am voting with my feet and leaving the state.
68
@Jeff did the same thing, glad I did
7
@Jeff Hopefully, the correct math will be used when calculating the margin created by the fraud. It’s not just the potential number of illegal ballots but that those ballots typically go Democrat. So, the fraudulent ones would not only be subtracted from Harris but added to his Democratic opponent.
4
Crystal Mason received a five year prison sentence for casting a 2016 *provisional ballot* in Texas because she believed her voting rights were intact after a 2011 conviction.
How much prison time will Harris get for "believing" he didn't know he was hiring a felon to illegally distribute, select his name on ballots- collect and mail them in?
112
Republicans hold themselves in such a high self esteem, including Mark Harris' hiring of a known fraudster to help him get elected. Shameful and degrading. Corruptibility in the open, when we humans sell ourselves when the price is right. This, whenever the winning stakes are high and sensible supervision/regulation are lacking.
16
One of the readers points out that this ploy has been used by both the major parties. This I believe.
To believe that Mark Harris did not know (after losing an election to someone that used those services and being counseled by his own son), I do not believe. I think those crocodile tears shed yesterday in court were only sincere in that he was sad that he has been called out in public. That speaks loudly to his "day job". If you try to pass yourself off as a Christian, you need to look deeper at the meaning.
Just saying...
21
McCrae Dowless is a racketeer. You had to pay him or he would work against you. North Carolina knew about this guy for years- why didn’t the republican majority enact stiff laws against his practices?
58
Herein we have an actual example of voter fraud by the hapless Mr. Dowless who used individuals living on the margins of society to achieve his aims of securing victories for GOP candidates. How did Mr. Dowless benefit? There has to be something in it for him to be driving hours back and forth to pay the people he hired to acquire the fraudulent absentee ballots.
How many elections have been affected by Mr. Dowless' illegal election activities? Why is it just being discovered and exposed now?
There is more to this story and there are more people in positions of power who knew exactly what Dowless was doing. You have to hand it to the GOP - they will stop at nothing to achieve victory- morals, ethics and integrity be damned. This is not just a small, local story.
48
@Patricia Caiozzo Although I agree with most of your post, according to the story Mr. Dowless worked for both parties, not just the GOP.
2
Does anyone actually believe this is only happening in a single, backwater county in NC? Trump was the first presidency I believe was actively stolen. Faced with crumbling demographics and the balance of the Supreme Court in play, the pressure was incredible. We saw a pack of supposed constitutional literalists in the Senate willfully ignoring their mandated duty with the Merrick Garland nomination. Voting for federal positions needs to be made consistent, verifiable, and taken out of the hands of the states. We have the most rickety, fragmented, and disorganized voting process in the developed world because some people prefer it that way.
57
No Trump was not the first. W was the first with fl where his brother was the deciding state in 2000. During 2000 there was evidence that people supposedly cast their vote for Buchanan when the demographics of the populace would suggest otherwise.In 2004 it was Ohio with diebold and their malfunctioning machine. That fact that now republicans are now much more blatant speaks volumes about their will to hold onto power
10
The Republican party endorsed the former "Dean" of Trump "University" - what sane person would think that they're really concerned about fraud.
42
Republican ideas — trickle down, you’re on your own for health care, no unemployment insurance, religion in schools — are not popular with the majority of people.
Yet, they have a solid grip on the South. Wonder how they’ve managed that. Wink, wink. In the South, cheaters DO prosper.
33
Since Mark Harris can no longer use the old “but I didn’t know” defense, he should do the decent Thing and cede the election to McCready. When your own son testified that he told you repeatedly that the guy is crooked you can hardly keep your head in the sand any longer. What a hypocrite- and a minister??
65
"With a congressional seat now in the balance, sworn testimony this week in the North Carolina capital has illuminated the inner workings of Mr. Dowless’s precise but amateurish operation, an almost fly-by-night enterprise that paid about $3 for every collected absentee ballot request and $2.50 for each collected absentee ballot."
This is yet another ridiculous example of the skullduggery the press, in the case the NY Times, will go to to minimize election tampering when it's a Republican doing the tampering, yet that same press goes on and on about fake election tampering claims made by Republicans against Democrats!
Your own sentence says a congressional seat is in the balance yet you ascribe the terms 'amateurish' and 'fly by night' as if it were just some nice old grandad looking guy out on a lark.
Flipping a seat in the House of Representatives isn't an amateur or fly by night enterprise. It's a crime against our electoral system which we are constantly told by our leaders, somehow still with straight faces, that the right to vote is the most sacred and important right we have as citizens of this now so-called democracy.
NY Times please stop the mind-bending contortions and level this playing field. Republicans constantly seek to change voting laws, restrict the right to vote, CHEAT, etc. yet they, as far as I know, are the cheaters. The proof is as plain as the ink on your page. Stop making excuses for these criminals. This didn't happen in a vacuum.
28
Absentee ballots, or "vote by mail" as used on the west coast, is absolutely vulnerable to wholesale fraud. In-person voting is not.
The problem here is bi-partisan. Both parties have learned to perfect absentee ballot fraud. It is not only the Republicans in NC-09, although they raised it to an art form. The Democratic City Committee chairman in Stamford, Connecticut was recently arrested for such practices, albeit on a much smaller scale, and his defense, in part, is that the Republican Town Clerk permitted his violations of state law.
Placing strict limits on the issuance of absentee ballots and enforcing laws against "ballot harvesting" and other abuses will reduce fraud, but they will also make it significantly harder for the disabled and the rural poor to vote. We need for there to be a real effort to find an appropriate balance here, and to provide for strong enforcement where violations are committed.
6
@John Graybeard Really? I've been voting by absentee mail-in ballot ( since the early 80's) as have millions in California. Please enlighten me on our "wholesale" voter fraud?
16
@Candlewick - One example comes to mind … the recruiting of homeless people on Los Angeles' Skid Row to sign petitions and register to vote in exchange for cigarettes.
2
@John Graybeard Signing petitions is not the same as voting fraud. Thousands of organizations hire homeless, college student and lil old ladies like myself to collect signatures for petitions. California is the kings of the Ballot Initiative and the signatures are checked against voter registration records. You do realize you are comparing apples with screwdrivers.
And who really cares how the petition recruiters are paid?
Some are paid by how many valid signatures they get; some in Cigarettes. If I was homeless I might register to vote if someone paid me in Cigarettes or a warm blanket. Who cares? If they are eligible to register- what's the harm? Everyone who is homeless isn't a felon- you do realize that don't you.
6
Kobach trump et al should take a note if this. Of course they won’t bc it’s not Mexicans, Muslims, blacks people, immigrants who are doing this, rather it’s their core white supporters who are orchestrating this. Of course, there will probably be silence bc it doesn’t fit their narrative. Disgusting. The lot of them.
69
It has been the habit of Republicans in NC to gerrymander by elaborate schemes. Now, we are to believe that they relied on a sloppy ex-felon in need of money to fix this well-funded election in which Harris had raised more than $2 million. Doubtful. .
11
@michjas: So they get a pass due to incompetence?
This is like saying Trump shouldn't be held accountable for obstruction of justice because he's committed it openly multiple times.
14
Fewer than one in five registered voters were registered as republican. Dowless ran an operation that mailed out ballots and then collected them and completed all of the blank ones or incomplete ones and probably discarded many for the democratic candidate. I do think he hired Dowless to bring him the election. You hire him or he works against you.
6
Not doubtful at all. They can’t win by legal means so they resort to ANY means. A man of God no less.
5
I am so glad they caught the millions of undocumented workers who committed vote fraud in the 2016 election by voting for Hillary Clinton. Isn’t that what this article was about? Oh wait, it was about a dirty trickster for hire who submitted fraudulent absentee ballots, not something the Trumpers apparently think is wrong. I wonder how they would feel if their vote were stolen from them.
40
Of course Harris knew; he's not that stupid. In this state, Republicans stay in power by trickery, gerrymandering, and voter suppression, so he was just doing what his cohorts have been doing.
80
@katherinekovach
When your own 29 year old son testifies he told you about the same scheme from 2016 (the younger Harris was in private practice at the time)- you know, the elder Harris knew.
32
Trump was right. There is voter fraud in America.
38
I wonder did Jeff Sessions leave any notes for the incoming A.G. to be on the alert about N.Carolina voting irregularities; or was he too busy hunting down Black Identity Extremists?
17
What a contrast Donald Trump Jr. and Mark Harris. Hopefully, both get what they deserve.
21
Why is it the party loudly accusing Democrats of voter fraud commits it?
59
@Demosthenes
Republicans ALWAYS project. If they accuse an opponent of something, it usually means it is something they are guilty of. E.g. Trump vs. Clinton 2016 is rife with this, but mostly ignored by the 'but both sides do it' mindset of
the press.
15
I would not push the evil Republican narrative to hard here. This sort of ballot collection and walking around money (paying people to go to the polls) has been standard practice in New York City politics for generations.
3
@mkm
Really? Do tell the rest of how it works in New York: Does the state of NY allow others to solicit absentee mail-in ballots for others; sign them AND select the candidate on your behalf- then mail them for you; then check with select members of the local election's commission and then allow others to see the voting results before published?
16
@mkm- Prove it. What you are,saying is as empty as Miller's claim that democrats are bussed into New Hampshire to vote. I am sick of conviction by innuendo.
7
To call this scheme a Fly-By-Night operation is a gross mischaracterization. This was a well-thought-out operation (having been previously used) by Mr. Dowless with evidence it was known by many.
This is a history lesson in real time: Pervasive subtle and not-so-subtle coercion and intimidation of poor voters (blacks and whites) in rural small Southern towns has never gone away.
Where is the U.S. Justice Department in this? Absolute silence. Where are the calls for a federal investigation?
This matter isn't a one-off. There is a vacancy in Congress as a result. That should matter to every Republican howling about voter fraud; This is election fraud on a grand scale.
That the state of North Carolina looks like an episode of "In The Heat Of The Night"- makes it all the more disgraceful.
85
How ironic that the Republicans, who scream loudly and often of large scale voter fraud, are most guilty of it themselves.
42
"The effort unraveled soon enough, and the fate of the House seat — one held by Republicans since 1963 — has been called into question."
Also calls into question how the seat was held by Republicans since 1963.
92
I'm a resident of NC-9. I didn't vote for Mark Harris, but I'll get to that in a moment.
I moved to North Carolina 25 years ago. Moving south of the Mason Dixon Line had never crossed my mind, but the state had some curious dichotomies. It ranked low in public education, yet had some of the best universities in the country. Busing students occurred, even if not official, yet it led the nation in adopting and implementing internet technologies for schools and hospitals.
North Carolina is getting fatigued by the Republicans' regressive tactics under the governorship of once popular Charlotte mayor Pat McCrory and their continued assault on the law since 2016.
Mark Harris has no "plausible deniability" here. His predecessor, Robert Pittenger, used Dowless to beat Harris in 2016. He knew what occurred in Bladen County. I'm gratified that Kim Strach, Republican executive director of the Board of Elections, called out Dowless' efforts a "coordinated and unlawful...absentee ballot scheme."
Despite all that, I didn't vote for Mark Harris because he's an example of the worst sort of an evangelical theocrat. His warped notions of females' subordination to their husbands, and his willingness, nay, intent, to put his God before the law, are both regressive and unconstitutional.
It's time to fix real voter fraud and return to the separation of church and state.
240
Oh the Republican party will find a way to get around this little ole setback. I am waiting for Mitch McConnell to come out and say how much of a power grab this is by the Democrats. Once again this would be a huge thing if the Dems had done it but just a teeny weeny mistake by Republicans. How do these people look at themselves in the mirror every morning and have the audacity to go to church on Sunday. The Catholic church should change the confessional plead to "Bless me, Father, for I have not sinned. But my opponent surely has."
25
@walking man
Agreed. And why are the Democrats so bad at fighting back? It frustrates me no end.
5
Many are charging the N.C. GOP with pervasive corruption. There is a huge gerrymandering case that was decided by three Democratic judges and is likely to be reversed on appeal. And then there is this case, a two bit crook tampering with ballots for small payoffs. The NC Democrats probably have a worse record based on John Edwards alone.
2
@michjas
So the gerrymandering case is "likely" to be reversed on appeal.
No it won't.
The Democrats "probably" have a worse record.
So, prove it.
Time will tell won't it?
6
Dowless performed the same duties in the 2016 election. The NC Board of Elections investigated, found irregularities, and forwarded the case to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Who Took No Action. That, to me, is the real story here.
149
I am very concerned that for the next election the electronic voting machines are not secure against hacking by GOP operatives acting in concert with Russian cyber experts. The electronic systems are riddled with exploitable weaknesses. The cheating in NC and the willingness to take seats by fraud means that the GOP is ready, willing and may be able to steal all future elections and hold power by force and fraud as did the PRI in Mexico. The GOP has shown they are not to be trusted.
37
Desperate measures by a party without any positives ideas or values.
The party is circling the drain.
Let the slime flow right down into it and die off.
Our country will do far better with a new political party .
2
Perhaps the PHOTO VOTER ID that should be required would be for every election supervisor, poll worker, secretary of state or anyone handling any type of ballot. Finger prints, DNA samples and background checks, plus a BAN on political party membership or donations while they are employed in a vote counting or vetting capacity. There are TWO WOMEN in jail for YEARS in TEXAS (surprise) because they voted BY MISTAKE. Here, HUNDREDS of ballots are in question, and the penalty should be years behind bars for every violation, up to multiple life terms in prison. THIS is the voter fraud the Republicans will sweep under the rug and this one county is just the tip of the iceberg. You can run the greatest political campaign in the world, but if the vote counters are corrupt, you don't stand a chance. Look at the political affiliations and donations of Diebold-Nixdorf Corporation, which makes a majority of the voting machines used in this country. What will a photo VOTER ID do to secure our elections when the fox is in the henhouse, manipulating vote counts with impunity? This matter is too important for local law enforcement. Any election fraud anywhere should be investigated by bipartisan FBI and FEC officials with no interest in the outcome.
26
My concern is how many times have these corrupt practices been perpetrated throughout North Carolina and other states to steal elections.
309
@Buzz D If voter suppression activities, gerrymandering and other atrocious Republican schemes were ever really corrected in NC it would be a red state. It's a beautiful place, and in most respects a great place to live, but its long history of political corruption (not always Republican) is quite sad.
1
@Big Guy
I believe if voter suppression, in addition to fear based suppression towards non whites, in ALL 50 states were wiped out or severely reduced by strict Felony Crime laws resulting in long prison sentences and huge fines; the vast majority of America would be blue states with Republicans forever in the minority.
America is multi racial, multi cultural, multi religious and multi sexual socirty and there's no going back to the 1600s timeframe. Nothing can be done to permanently change these facts.
As a white male in America I appreciate the diversity, respect the diversity, and honor the diversity.
10
@Big Guy
Not by a long shot. Take a look at the gerrymandered maps created by Republicans for state and federal elections in NC. I vote in one district for state reps and in another for federal reps. It wouldn't be necessary if it was a red state.
By the way, NC as every other state, is a state made up of people, not parties and all of the people in each should, but often don't, have the same right to be represented.
4
While the shenanigans that took place in this election are considered an isolated case, we must deal with the bigger problem with our election process and that is 99% of our votes are counted in the “darkness of cyberspace.” That’s undemocratic.
Election integrity expert Jonathan Simon says the process of counting votes is no different than the “man behind the curtain.” If we gave our ballots to a man wearing a magician's costume and a pin for his preferred candidate, he then goes behind the curtain to tally the votes, he comes out and says I’ve counted the ballots, shredded them and announces the winner would you trust the result?
Election Theft in the 21st Century with Jonathan Simon https://tinyurl.com/ydz3jcvj
This is what democracy looks like!
Commenter Eric from NYC wrote: “France uses only paper ballots that each voter puts into a translucent box in plain view of everyone present. My fondest memories are of going with my father after the polls were closed to witness the counting of ballots. It is always open to everyone. The people counting are private citizens randomly selected on that very day. I remember these evenings as the most democratic moments of my life, when French people who didn't necessarily know each other came together to witness democracy in action.
German Court Rules E-Voting Unconstitutional https://tinyurl.com/za778ju
Europe Rejects Digital Voting Machines https://tinyurl.com/yczjwo64
#HandCountedBallotsNow!
168
Block chain technology for casting ballots and counting them would be ideal! It would all be there for the public to see, and once on the block chain there’s a permanent record of it and no one can tamper with it.
6
@RLS
You've been beating this drum for a long time - keep up the good work. Truth and integrity may yet defeat these evil cheats.
The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is. Winston Churchill.
13
@RLS
Voting is a real simple process here. You go in, you have the electoral officer score your name off his list, he gives you your ballot. You go into a three sided booth, you pick up the little pencil in the booth, you mark an "X" next to the name you choose. You put your ballot in the box, you leave.
The boxes are carted off to a local counting centre, they get opened, they get counted by hand, overseen by electoral officers. Real simple. No muss, no fuss. And most importantly, no fraud.
I have no idea why anyone would want to complicate it with with levers, electronics and hanging chads and the like. Pencil, paper, "X". Done.
8
I am sure they did something wrong. It's really peanuts compared to election fraud of other eras. What did Johnson learn from his first Senate loss, don't declare victory too soon and give the other guy a chance to stuff the ballot box at the end. He did not make the mistake twice, the second time his people made sure boxes were fully stuffed at the right time.
2
@Mott
It appears you are attempting to diminish the issue(s) at hand with the dredging of historical slip slop. Johnson is long dead. His Senate race you refer to was decades ago. This comment reeks of "both sides do it."
No, they don't.
25
@Raster007 Not really, just think it's good to have some historical context. What took place is not anything new in American history. Voter suppression is not new either nor is gerrymandering. This particular type of activity is actually rare compared to earlier eras, just found it ironic. If the political parties really want fair elections they have to get rid of gerrymandering, it is alive and well in New York State. This stuff is eay to expose.
Well finally! President Trump has located his wholesale voter fraud and it doesn't have immigrants or the need for voter ID anywhere. And it is Republicans.
I don't expect Democrats to be any better in places in which the political machine is run by Democrat hacks. But it is the political hackery that is suspect not individual voters.
North Carolina has now seen the wisdom of "Vote early, vote often" and may or may not wish to get tough on campaigns, operatives, and sleazy political operators.
And maybe, just maybe, we will stop trying to take the vote from people who have a hard time getting ID and take the power from people who are just likely to tamper with the actual ballot box.
92
@Cathy Yes - its less about who votes than about who counts the votes.
8
Surprise surprise! Just the NC GOP doing what it does best: lying, cheating, gerrymandering, manipulating the vote.
248
Naturally, the knee-jerk conclusion that will be jumped to here is that this is a systemic rot in the NC GOP.
Mr. Dowless, you might all please note, only worked for a Republican candidate in this past election. Prior to that, he worked exclusively for state Democrats. He has changed his party affiliation frequently, usually from Democrat to unaffiliated and back.
Truth is, this is a crook who's painted and tainted the entire NC political canvas for years and it was never a secret to the state Board of Elections.
If it takes bringing the NC GOP into sharper focus after the apparent Harris victory last focus, then it must also take into clearer view the shenanigans of a large group of Democrat pols over the past three or four election cycles.
10
@JBC
And we're just supposed to take your word for that?
Not.
1
@WhatConditionMyConditionIsIn
It's a matter of public record. All of it.
(Watch that knee.)
In Phoenix it’s common for church officials to illegally collect absentee ballots from members of the congregation. And the down and out collect petition signatures for pay. The intention in borh cases is not to illegally sway the election. It is to assure ballot submission and to collect money.
The same seems to be true in the North Carolina case. The motive isn’t election fixing. It is pecuniary. It may be criminal, but it is not an attempt to fraudulently steal an election.
1
Read again. They did not merely collect absentee ballots. They actually filled them out. Do you think they randomly chose which candidates to place votes for?
71
When a third party is filling out someone else’s illegally-collected ballot it’s election fraud.
32
@Steve Cohen/ERT
There is evidence of 12 ballots illegally filled out. That is a crime, but it sure didn’t change the election. I wonder why they even bothered.
1
Shame on us and our totally corrupt American political machine where a low-income fast-food worker must proclaim her tear-filled sorrow to a hearing room full of strangers. While the connected and powerful laugh off crimes of collusion, suppression and obstruction that are so many orders of magnitude more damaging to our society. As money continues to be the oil that lubricates our “democracy”, we will soon reach the point where the damage is beyond repair.
154
It would be valuable in an article such as this to address the numbers, specifically, that there are nearly 800,000 voters in the county. So that an ~900 vote lead easily could have been swayed here by this program.
50
Welcome to North Carolina, where our state legislature is continually passing laws to protect the public from voter fraud. But rather than preventing fraud such as this, all they really want to do is suppress the votes of anyone who might vote against them. Their actions have empowered people such as Harris Sr to act with impunity in order to get elected.
358
@Doug
Harris, Sr., being a minister, can't possibly be at fault.
1
Kris Kobach must be thrilled to finally be on the trail of a hot case of voting fraud. The whole country patiently awaits his urgent report to the oval office that throughly uncovers the truth
of voting fraud in North Carolina and recommends criminal prosecution for those who are undermining democracy in that state.
314
@BBB I happened to watch an interview of Mr. Kobach in passing a few days ago on this very subject, he stumbled all over himself trying to explain away North Carolina.
45
@wolf201, I will look for that. Thanks.
2
@BBB
I would not hold my breath waiting.
Well, we found the voter fraud that Republicans have warned us about for years.
This party has brazenly and repeatedly shown that when faced with the choice of winning elections by any means necessary, or by upholding the Constitutional right to free and fair elections, they will chose the former, every single time.
Gerrymandering. Voter roll purges. Zero outrage over foreign meddling in our elections. Bogus "voter ID" laws specifically orchestrated to repress poor and minority voters. Ludicrous conflict of interest where a Georgia official oversees an election that he himself is running in. And now we have blatant tampering of ballots. Not even in my depths of cynicism did I believe they would dare go that far.
I hope that Democrats respond to this with the outrage it deserves. Sadly they seem far less capable of drawing ire to actual scandals than the Republicans are at fabricating fake ones. Each 2020 hopeful needs a clear and compelling message for how we reform elections. Voters should be choosing their elected officials, not the other way around.
431
@Solaris
How many Florida voters did Jeb Bush purge in the 2000 election to get his brother elected? The GOP is criminal, anti-Democratic, and treasonous. That they stay in power by cheating and rigging the elections time and again is astounding. They will continue to do so until we wake up and stop them.
77
@Solaris Hey kids, I have an idea for the GOP's clear and compelling message. "When the Republican does it, it's not a crime." That ought to work.
16
@Solaris, your words are my words too. Well written.
6
Here is what I find so worrisome about all that we know about the 2016 election and republicans, they seem to have no problem cheating democracy.
I fear the rot in the party goes much higher and deeper than many may have thought. The fact that there is no public outcry on the part of republicans and no request for public hearings kind of tells you all you need to know. The question in my mind is how tainted will 2020 be with Trump leading the Republican Party?
203
The entire Republican party in NC should be investigated. Look what has happened to this State since Obama was elected. The power grab continued after we elected a Democrat for Governor. It will continue if they are not held accountable.
225
"One in four people live below the poverty line." And still they vote again their own interests. I will never understand that.
113
This might explain why so many poor folk seem to be voting Republican. They didn't. Their votes are being stolen by Republicans,
33
@bea durand I question whether they even vote, not who they vote for. Their focus is probably "where can I get my next meal" not "where do I go vote".
11
@bea durand
It’s called racism.
2
This proves what I've said before. Voters don't steal elections. It's the people who count the votes who do the stealing.
94
@newsmaned
"I care not who casts the votes of a nation, provided I can count them,’ Napoleon failed to remark.” — New York Times editorial (26 May 1880).
(Snopes disavows Stalin as the source on the usual quote attributed to him, so this is close enough)
2
The corrupt, criminal, larcenous heart and soul of 2018 Republican dirty tricks reveals itself again in all its North Carolina glory.
And here it is in 2016:
“I propose that we draw the maps to give a partisan advantage to 10 Republicans and three Democrats, because I do not believe it’s possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans and two Democrats,” North Carolina Republican state Rep. Dave Lewis in 2016, during the redistricting process.
"If conservatives become convinced that they can not win democratically, they will not abandon conservatism. They will reject democracy.”
- David Frum
Republican candidates and their political operatives need to be tried and convicted of massive civil rights violations and start going to federal prison for murdering democracy.
The Republican Party is a criminal political syndicate; the RICO laws should be used to prosecute and incarcerate them.
Decent Americans don't vote for Republican vote riggers.
468
@Socrates You mean the ends don't justify the means? I think it was Monty Python that said "what an interesting concept."
21
@Socrates
It is long past time that we enshrine and protect the most basic tenant of democracy: the individual ballot. Our national electoral system would be in shambles... if we had one. We have No national standards for the individual state's electoral infrastructure, ensuring absolute fairness and equity across the country. No national standards for the conduct of persons or entities involved in our national elections, including definitions of crimes and punishments for those persons or entities working against democracy.
And before anyone launches into "both sides do it," no they don't. One party seeks to register and electorally empower as many lawful voters as possible. The other party seeks to disenfranchise and limit the lawful voters they perceive will not vote for their candidates or interests. One party is voter access and participation, the other party is vote suppression. ENOUGH!
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@Socrates
And-of-course, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked a lower-court order for N.Carolina to redraw its Republican gerrymandered districts before the 2018 election (saying there wasn't sufficient time), and yet no determination for 2020.
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