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Mark Harris, the former Republican nominee of North Carolina's 9th Congressional District, responded at a hearing before a hearing in Raleigh in February, during which his son, John Harris, testified that he had warned his father not to engage agent Leslie McCrae Dowless. (Travis Long / AP)
A federal grand jury examines allegations of ballot fraud during a race at the Congressional Congress of North Carolina. He issued subpoenas this month. This is the first public evidence that US prosecutors are investigating.
Election Council officials in North Carolina and a lawyer for former Republican congressional candidate Mark Harris confirmed Tuesday that they have received subpoenas from the Department of Justice's Public Integrity section, demanding documents concerning allegations of electoral fraud in the 9th Congressional District.
Leslie McCrae Dowless, the GOP political leader hired by Harris in last year's election, also received a subpoena, according to the Charlotte WBTV television channel.
A spokeswoman for the Justice Department declined to comment.
[N.C. election board’s warnings to local and federal prosecutors about alleged election fraud drew little action]
Last month, a Raleigh prosecutor charged Dowless with seven major crimes, including obstruction of justice and possession of mail ballots.
Democratic candidate Dan McCready returns to the 9th congressional district, where special elections will be held this year after the disappointing results of state election officials last November. (Jeff Siner / AP)
The federal subpoenas come less than a month after the November election results were released by the electoral authorities in November, after discovering that Dowless had orchestrated a "coordinated, illegal, resource-laden postal voting plan." Substantial "last year to collect, falsify and possibly dismiss other voters. & # 39; postal ballots.
Officials also accused Dowless of hiding evidence of the operation as it unfolded and obstructing the state's investigation after the election.
State electoral authorities first sent evidence of fraud in the 9th district ballots to US District Attorney for North Carolina in January 2017, nearly two years before charges jeopardize Harris's race against Democrat Dan McCready last fall. Frustrated state investigators said they saw little evidence that prosecutors were pursuing the case.
[[[[A prosecutor appointed by Trump has focused on allegations of election fraud among immigrants amid warnings about a separate voting system]
The office spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on why the subpoenas had been requested by the Department of Justice in Washington and not by the US attorney at Raleigh, Robert J. Higdon Jr.
Lawyer Cynthia Singletary, left, with her client, Leslie McCrae Dowless, at a hearing in February on allegations of vote fraud in the 9th Congressional District in North Carolina. (Juli Leonard / The News & Observer)
The fact that one of Harris' sons, John, is an assistant US attorney at Higdon's office, complicates matters further.
Last month, John Harris told a hearing before the state election committee that he had warned his father that he believed Dowless had used an illegal tactic to collect the postal ballots. Two people aware of the investigation said that John Harris could be called to testify in the federal case.
Mark Harris denied knowing about the scheme. For weeks after the election, he insisted that his 905 vote victory entitles him to sit in Congress. This changed after state officials heard the public evidence of the poll at the hearing last month, prompting Harris to say that he thought the fraud tainted the result. The following week, Harris said that he would not participate in the special elections scheduled later this year.
[[[[In the end, everyone in North America agreed that it was an election fraud.]
Kim Westbrook Strach, executive director of the state election board, applauded the news of federal subpoenas.
"We support the efforts of state and federal authorities to investigate and prosecute crimes against the electoral process," Strach said in a statement on Tuesday. "The state council staff compiles records in response to the federal grand jury summons and is ready to assist state and federal prosecutors in their investigations. We hope that prosecutions in these cases will help restore voter confidence in our elections and will be a powerful deterrent to future electoral fraud. "
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