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Next week will mark the midpoint between election day, November 6th, and the first day of the new Congress, January 3rd. Still, a congressional race in North Carolina remains undecided and an ongoing investigation could leave a vacant seat for a predictable date.
As of Saturday, the margin in North Carolina's 9th Congressional District raises to 905 votes in favor of Republican Mark Harris at the expense of Democrat Dan McCready. This is a narrow margin, although it is not the narrowest of the mid-term election season of 2018. Democrat Ben McAdams was certified winner of GOP representative Mia Love shortly before Thanksgiving, while He had won less than 700 votes
And yet, the North Carolina Elections Council refused to certify the results at a meeting held Friday afternoon after voting. anomalies and allegations of manipulation of ballots triggered an investigation into possible election fraud
Problems started even before polling day, when district voters began to report that they had received mail ballots that they had neither requested nor required. Others said under oath that some people – including at least one person connected with the Harris campaign – came to their door to collect ballots by mail, even those that had not been completely filled.
An elector swore an affidavit stating that an unidentified woman had collected an incomplete postal ballot and that she would finish filling it. Filling or returning the missing ballot from someone else is a federal crime
. These reports are tainted with unexplained discrepancies in the results of the postal votes. Bladen County saw an unusually high number of ballot papers submitted to the mid-term election, and some constituencies in Bladen County and nearby Robeson counties presented a curious number of ballots. postal voting which have been requested but have never been submitted. data and revealed that the two counties accounted for nearly 18% of the state's non-returnable postal ballots, while they represented less than two percent of the state's population.
Moreover, the differences were similar to those that affected the May Republican primary election. Harris ran against incumbent Robert Pittenger and won by 828 votes. However, in Bladen County, Harris captured 96% of the returned mail ballots, far exceeding his margin in any other constituency. About 22% of GOP primary votes in Bladen County were mail-in ballots, by far the highest rate in the district.
At Friday's meeting, the Elections and Conduct Board of Directors voted 7 to 2 in favor of holding an evidentiary hearing in mid-December to remedy to these anomalies and to chart the way forward. In the meantime, investigators continue to gather evidence that more and more people have suspected fraud in the primary and republican elections.
The Harris campaign and the North Carolina GOP issued statements criticizing the State Elections Council – an independent, bipartisan party. State agency – demanding that the results of the elections be certified, without questioning the allegations made by the voters of the district. Two of the four Republicans on the board voted in favor of the audience, alongside the four Democrats and one non-partisan member.
Ironically, the Republican Party in the state strongly defends racist laws in voter identification, insisting that the integrity of elections throughout the state must be protected against the non-existent scourge of electoral fraud in person. With regard to actual election fraud, at least when it is committed on its behalf, integrity is secondary.
Dan McCready's campaign issued a statement supporting the election council's decision to delay certification.
"Today's reports of serious allegations in Bladen County are troubling," said his campaign on Friday. "We can not allow anyone to tamper with our elections or sabotage our electoral process. I stand by 9th District voters to ensure that wrongdoing is investigated and prosecuted, regardless of the outcome of the vote. "
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