A middle finger to democracy
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On Tuesday, Popular Information obtained 162 absentee ballot envelopes from Bladen County, North Carolina and published a groundbreaking report that exposed the tactics and participants of an outwardly illegal vote harvesting scheme. Popular Information's reporting was credited in the New York Times, CNN, the New Yorker, and the Charlotte Observer.
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A second county
This week, Popular Information has focused much of its reporting on the North Carolina election fraud scandal on Bladen County, where convicted felon Leslie McCrae Dowless ran a vote harvesting scheme. A new report suggests his operation was more expansive.
WSOC uncovered a link between McCrae Dowless' crew in Bladen and the absentee ballots in neighboring Robeson County. Lisa Britt served as a witness on 27 absentee ballots in Robeson. Britt, who was a witness to another 42 absentee ballots in Bladen, has admitted to working for McCrae Dowless.
The vote in Robeson has drawn scrutiny because of statistical anomalies in the returns. For example, 62% of the absentee ballots requested in Robeson County were not returned. In Bladen, 42% of absentee ballots requested were not returned. In the other seven counties in North Carolina's 9th Congressional district between 12 and 27 percent of ballots were not returned.
Several "witnesses have said that their ballots, which were collected by individuals apparently working for ringleader McCrae Dowless, were never submitted to the county or state."
It raises the question of whether McCrae Dowless' voter harvesting operation involved discarding absentee ballots it obtained that were not likely to be votes for Republican candidate Mark Harris.
New evidence that Harris knew
Mark Harris is the pastor for former Charlotte city council candidate Pete Givens. In an interview with WSOC, Givens provided strong evidence that Harris knew about McCrae Dowless’ operation. According to Givens, Harris recommended Givens hire McCrae Dowless for a city council election and “told me about this guy’s process.”
North Carolina's largest paper calls for a new vote
In a sharply worded editorial, the Charlotte Observer argued the only responsible course in North Carolina's 9th Congressional district is to hold a new election.
Questions remain about how much Harris knew about the work being done on his behalf. Both he and his chief consultant, Andy Yates, contend they weren’t aware of any election fraud in the 9th District, but Dowless was well-known as a dicey figure in N.C. political circles. He’s a convicted felon who had been investigated for similar fraud in 2016, and he even was featured nationally in a This American Life episode. Harris, at the least, should have seen the smoke.
Voters in the 9th District deserve the confidence that their election was free from fraud. North Carolina statute supports it. The evidence already demands it. The Board of Elections should start the election over.
The North Carolina Board of Elections is scheduled to hold an evidentiary hearing on the alleged election fraud by December 21.
A middle finger to democracy
One of the most significant results in the 2018 election was Democratic victories in the Governor's races in Michigan and Wisconsin -- two states that voted for Trump in the last presidential election. In both states, the Democrats seized control of the Governor's mansion from Republicans.
The legislatures in Michigan and Wisconsin, which are both still controlled by Republicans, responded by pushing legislation designed to curtail the power of the incoming Democratic governors severely.
In Wisconsin, the process played out in the wee hours of Wednesday morning.
In an extraordinary session, the Republican legislature successful jammed through a package designed to undermine the authority of Governor-elect Tony Evers.
The new legislation is wide-ranging. It would strip the Governor's authority to administer public benefits programs without approval from the legislature. It ends the Governor's control of the economic development board, a key body which provides incentives to businesses. It even prevents the Governor from banning guns in the Wisconsin state capitol without permission. It also restricts the ability of the Governor to make political appointments, even on a temporary basis, without legislative approval.
The law also limits the power of the new Attorney General, Democrat Josh Kaul who will replace the outgoing Republican incumbent. The Attorney General will now not be able to settle major cases without the consent of the legislature. It would also allow the legislature to hire its own lawyers to defend the constitutionality of legislation, even if the Attorney General disagrees.
The bill squeaked by the Senate (17-16) and passed overwhelmingly in the House (56-27). In both chambers, all Democrats and one Republican opposed the power grab.
The actions of the Wisconsin legislature were, quite simply, an affront to democracy.
Wisconsin Speaker says the quiet part loud
Wisconsin Republicans did a lousy job of hiding the motivations behind their legislative package. Wisconsin House Speaker Robin Vos told reporters that, without the legislation, "we are going to have a very liberal governor who is going to enact policies that are in direct contrast to what many of us believe in."
Vos did not mention that the "very liberal governor" defeated Republican incumbent Scott Walker by more than 30,000 votes.
Giving away the game
Republicans in the state legislature made a half-hearted attempt to argue that their efforts to restrict the power of Governor-elect Evers was rooted in principle, not partisanship. They positioned the move as part of a long-overdue rebalancing of power between the legislature and the executive.
"It provides more opportunity for oversight for a coequal branch of government," Romaine Quinn, a GOP member of the state assembly, said.
But Republicans also included a provision in the bill that would limit early voting in localities to two weeks. What do early voting limits have to do with curtailing the Governor's authority? Nothing, except both benefit the Republican Party politically. Democrats tend to do better when more people vote and a longer early voting period makes that easier.
Quinn and other Republicans also did not explain why they didn't seek to limit the power of the Governor during the eight years that Scott Walker was in office.
The magic of Gerrymandering
Evers defeated Walker, but despite the Democrat's victory in the Governor's race, Republicans maintained a super-majority in the state assembly. It's the magic of Gerrymandering.
Republicans won a minority of total votes cast in state assembly races this year but, because the party has drawn district lines to maximize their power, ended up with an overwhelming majority of the seats.
Evers is not elated
Incoming Governor Tony Evers responded to the legislatures 11th-hour gambit. He's not happy.
Wisconsin has never seen anything like this. Power-hungry politicians rushed through sweeping changes to our laws to expand their own power and override the will of the people of Wisconsin who asked for change on November 6th.
Wisconsin values of decency, kindness and finding common ground were pushed aside so a handful of people could desperately usurp and cling to power while hidden away from the people they represent.
The fight is not over
The passage of the legislation is not, however, the end of this story. Democrats have made clear they will challenge the legality of the new law as soon as Walker signs it.
Former Attorney General Eric Holder and others argue that the law violates the separation of powers. In North Carolina, Republicans attempted a similar move in 2016 to curtail the power of incoming Democratic Governor Rory Cooper. The North Carolina legislation was ultimately overturned by the courts.
Michigan follows Wisconsin's lead
Meanwhile, a similar effort is underway in Michigan, where Democrat Gretchen Whitmer will soon replace the Republican Governor. The Republican-controlled Michigan legislature is considering legislation to remove the power of the Secretary of State, a Democrat, to enforce campaign finance laws. Instead, the legislature would create a new body to handle potential campaign violations that would be equally split between Democrats and Republicans.
The body is also advancing a bill that would allow the legislature to independently intervene in any legal action -- a power that is currently held exclusively by the Michigan Attorney General, a Democrat.
The legislature has already finalized a move to gut a new minimum wage law before Whitmer takes office.
All of the actions in Michigan are expected to be challenged in court.
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