Amidst allegations of fraud, the state election council will not certify the home race to North Carolina: NPR

North Carolina Republican Mark Harris drew a number at the Capitol Hill office lottery in Washington on Friday. He led Democrat Dan McCready by more than 900 votes, but the state election committee was slow to certify his electoral victory.

Susan Walsh / AP

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Susan Walsh / AP

North Carolina Republican Mark Harris drew a number at the Capitol Hill office lottery in Washington on Friday. He leads Democrat Dan McCready by more than 900 votes, but the state election committee has been slow to certify his electoral victory.

Susan Walsh / AP

The question of Republican Mark Harris's electoral victory over Democrat Dan McCready in the state's 9th district was overturned by a decision of the North Carolina State Elections Council. in the 9th district, due to "claims of irregularities and fraudulent activities."

In a vote of 7 votes against 2 on Friday, the council announced that it will hold a public hearing on December 21 "in order to guarantee that the election will proceed without defilement, corruption or irregularities may have changed the result. "This follows a unanimous vote earlier this week to postpone the results of the certification of the elections

. According to the unofficial results of the elections, the two candidates are separated by 905 votes out of more than 280,000 voters. The Associated Press initially called the race to Harris, but canceled that showing on Friday.

In a letter sent to the Elections Office, the Democratic Party of North Carolina claimed to have committed wrongdoing. The Washington Post reported that the state law enforcement and ethics board had already collected at least six affidavits from constituents in the United States. Bladen County, alleging that individuals had come to their door and invited them to submit their ballots by correspondence.

In Bladen and Robeson counties, approximately 3,400 postal ballots were not returned to election officers, according to the NPR member station WFAE.

This equates to 40% of postal ballots in Bladen County and 64% in Robeson, according to an analysis News & Observer .

North Carolina elections expert Gerry Cohen told WFAE that when people proceed to request a vote by mail, they often send them back. "The return rate is usually around 80 or 90 percent," he said.

The November unexpended ballots were disproportionately associated with minorities, according to News & Observer :

. the ballots requested by African Americans and more than 60% of those requested by the American Indians did not reach the election officials. For white voters, this figure was only 17%.

In an affidavit received by the committee, a woman named Emma Shipman said that she had received a visit from someone who claimed to collect ballot papers by correspondence, reported WFAE.

Shipman said she fills out the form while the woman was waiting outside. "She took the ballot and put it in an envelope, without ever sealing it or asking me to sign it, and then she left."

It is illegal to collect postal ballots. However, Shipman said, "Because of the way she appeared, I thought she was legit."

North Carolina 9th District race contestants expressed opposing views on the postponement of the Election Committee.

"I respect the bipartite electoral council's current decision to delay the certification of our election results until the investigation is completed," said Democratic candidate McCready . He added: "Any effort to deprive a person of this right should be handled with all the force of justice."

Harris Opposes the Decision and Declares : "The State Electoral Council must act immediately to certify the race while continuing to conduct their investigation. Anything else is a poor service to ninth district residents. "

He stated that he supported efforts to investigate allegations of electoral fraud," as long as it is fair and concerns all political parties ". Harris said that there were not enough ballots in question to influence the outcome of the race.

The council's decision triggered the decision of Dallas Woodhouse, executive director of the Republican Party of North Carolina, to to ask the Democratic President of the Electoral Council of the State to resign. He added that President Andy Penry "has been shown to be hyper partisan" and that "no public evidence in # CD9 shows a vote violation and that, mathematically, this does not happen. Would not have changed the race. "

Penry resigned Saturday, saying that he did not want his partisan views to be used to undermine the investigation.

"The investigation of criminal conduct and electoral fraud in the Republican primary elections of 2018 and 2018 in District 9 of Congress is an issue of vital importance to our democracy," he said. he wrote in a statement The Washington Post . "I will not allow myself to be used as an instrument of distraction in this investigation."

The council met for three hours Friday via teleconference, reported WFAE. Two of the four Republicans on the board – Ken Raymond and John Hemphill – voted against the delay. The other two, Stacy Eggers and John Lewis, voted along the same lines as the Democrats.

The election committee itself is also faced with uncertainty. A panel of three judges decided in October that the changes made to the council by the Republican-controlled general assembly were unconstitutional. The governor of North Carolina, Democrat Roy Cooper, said the changes were aimed at weakening his control of the board of directors.

A stay of the decision authorizing the board to operate had to expire but was extended. Harris has filed a motion for the jury to remain in place until his race is certified.