North Carolina: A worker details fraud on an alleged ballot at a hearing before an election committee



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On the first day of the North Carolina State Election Council's hearing regarding electoral irregularities during the 9th district race, Lisa Britt explained in detail how the operation works. The race is the last undecided run of 2018 mid-term elections and the North Carolina seat remains open despite allegations of fraud.

The state's electoral council voted not to certify the results according to which Republican Mark Harris, a Baptist minister, was running Democrat Dan McCready, a retired Navy businessman and businessman, with 905 votes. The decision not to certify stems from the investigation of the board of directors on strange results involving postal votes.

Election officials in North Carolina, as well as local and state prosecutors, are investigating allegations of fraud that may involve the deletion or modification of postal ballots.

In North Carolina, a witness must sign a ballot and these are usually family members or friends. But a report from CNN in the 9th district race revealed that three witnesses had signed more than 40 ballots each, another 30 and 3 others signed more than 10 each.

The election inquiry commission is looking into Bladen County, where active member Leslie McRae Dowless led a poorly connected group involved in questionable mail-order activities.

Britt testified that she had been paid by Dowless, her former father-in-law, to collect the mail ballots. Dowless is a convicted felon who has been hired by a Harris-sponsored consulting firm and is at the center of allegations that mail ballots have been falsified.

Earlier statements from Dowless's attorney denied any illegal activity.

Britt testified that she did not believe that Harris was aware of the operation.

"I think you have an innocent person in this whole affair who has no idea what's going on, and he's really hurting here – and that's Mr. Mark Harris." is terrible, "Britt said.

Britt stated that she had received at least $ 150 per 50 mail-in ballots that she had collected. The collection of postal ballots is illegal in North Carolina.

She also admitted that she had signed the mail ballots as a witness when she had not seen the voter fill it out. Britt explained that she had imitated her mother's signature on seven to nine ballots for "not triggering red flags" indicating that the same people had been signed as witnesses on too many ballots by mail.

Britt said that she had done all this under the instructions and often under the supervision of Dowless.

Britt testified that after the election, Dowless invited workers to his home and told them not to admit that they had collected ballots.

She said Dowless told the group that "as long as we stay together, everything will be fine because they have nothing on us". She added that the only reason she was collecting mail ballots, which is illegal in North Carolina, is because Dowless paid for it.

The Election Election Committee presented a slide showing a text message with the photo of a letter that Brittney said Dowless had sent her last Thursday to discuss this week's hearing. Britt said Dowless asked Britt and her mother to read the statement at the hearing on Monday.

The letter on the text said: "I can tell you that I did not do anything wrong during the elections and that McCrae Dowless never told me to do anything, and to my knowledge he did not do anything. never done anything bad, but I'm taking the 5th amendment because I do not have a lawyer and I feel like you're going to try to trip me in. I'm taking the 5th. "

Britt was the first witness to participate in what could be a three-day hearing that could decide the outcome of the elections. This case could potentially lead to another election for the seat of the state's 9th district house. McCready first conceded, but subsequently withdrew his grant after finding that "criminal activity was revealed," he said, before calling Harris to inform voters what he knew and when.

This story has been updated.

CNN's Eric Bradner contributed to this report.

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