North Carolina election heist
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North Carolina election heist
Leslie McCrae Dowless (right) and his brother.
The unofficial tally shows Republican Mark Harris defeating Democrat Dan McCready by just 905 votes in North Carolina's 9th Congressional district. The Associated Press called the race for Harris on November 9th, after McCready conceded.
But on Friday, the North Carolina State Board of Elections voted unanimously not to certify the results of the race. The AP retracted its call.
The State Board of Elections cited serious allegations of "irregularities and fraudulent activities related to absentee by-mail voting." A series of affidavits submitted suggests that a man named Leslie McCrae Dowless systematically falsified, manipulated, and potentially destroyed absentee ballots -- particularly in Bladen County. Harris won Bladen County by 1,557 votes, more than his margin statewide.
McCrae Dowless was hired by the Harris campaign to work its absentee ballot program through Harris' top consultant, Red Dome Group.
Felony fraud
While attracting national attention, one important aspect of the story slipped through the cracks: McCrae Dowless' criminal record. Records from the North Carolina Department Of Public Safety obtained by Popular Information reveal McCrae Dowless has been convicted of multiple crimes.
On August 22, 1990, a 24-year-old employee of McCrae Dowless’ auto sales business, Charles Simmons Jr., died in a single car accident. After Simmons’ death, McCrae Dowless forged Simmons’ signature on a life insurance policy and backdated it to August 20. He named himself the beneficiary.
McCrae Dowless paid one month of premiums, which was $38.19. He then submitted a claim. On November 30, 1990, he received a check for $163,541.92. He pleaded guilty to felony fraud on May 21, 1992.
McCrae Dowless received a suspended sentence and was placed on probation, but he violated his parole. His probation was revoked, and he served about six months in jail for his crime in 1995.
McCrae Dowless also has several misdemeanor convictions for writing bad checks and failing to pay taxes.
The affidavits
A series of notarized affidavits from voters were submitted to the state election board by Democratic Party attorney John Wallace. According to the affidavits, McCrae Dowless and his team allegedly showed up at voters’ doors and collected absentee ballots, which is illegal. Here is one example:
Local reporters have uncovered more evidence of impropriety.
Another person filed an affidavit saying McCrae Dowless said he was hired by Harris to work the absentee ballot operation in Bladen County. McCrae Dowless said he would be paid $40,000 in cash if Harris won.
The statistics
Analysis of the vote in Bladen shows significant statistical anomalies in absentee voting. 7.5% of voters in Bladen requested absentee ballots, while in most counties it was less than 3%. In Bladen, Republicans represented just 19% of voters who requested absentee ballots, but Harris won 61% of the absentee vote.
It was the only county where Harris won the absentee vote. The Washington Post notes in "every other county, mail-in absentee ballots favored McCready, the Democrat, by at least 16 points. In Bladen, Harris won by 24 points."
The missing votes
In addition to votes that may have been manipulated, other votes appear to be missing. An analysis by political science professor Michal Bitzer "found there were about 19,400 absentee ballots by mail statewide that were requested but not returned for the Nov. 6 election." 8% of the unreturned ballots came from Bladen County, where McCrae Dowless focused his efforts, and 10% from neighboring Robeson County. There were a total of 3,404 ballots unreturned from those two counties, which represent less than 2% of the state's population.
Across the state, 24% of people who requested absentee ballots did not return them. In Robeson County, 64% of ballots went unreturned. In Bladen, it was 40%.
In Robeson, the unreturned ballots are concentrated in minority communities.
In Bladen County, the breakdown for African Americans and American Indians generally reflected the district-wide figures. But in Robeson County, 75 percent of the mail-in ballots requested by African Americans and 69 percent of the mail-in ballots requested by American Indians were listed as unreturned.
"The question is, what happened to those votes?" Bitzer said.
A history of absentee ballot fraud
In 2016, McCrae Dowless, who won a local election to be Bladen County Soil and Water Conservation District supervisor, alleged there was absentee ballot voter fraud targeting then-Governor Pat McCrory. But when he appeared before election officials to detail his allegations, he appeared to acknowledge that he was involved in fraud. The hearing was reported by the popular radio show This American Life.
Here's what tumbles out of McCrae under the board's questioning. He had some people working for him, getting out the vote -- volunteers, McCrae calls them. The volunteers, though, were allegedly getting paid for each ballot they turned in. That is illegal. One of the voters who signed an affidavit said that Get Out the Vote workers came by and had her family request absentee ballots. But then they never received their absentee ballots in the mail like they were supposed to. Then, when the family went to vote on election day, they were told they'd already voted. In essence, McCrae's getting accused of paying people to obtain absentee ballots, fill them out, and cast their votes on someone else's behalf. That, for sure, is illegal. McCrae says he didn't do anything wrong.
An election board member then calls for further criminal investigation, what appears to be Republican voter fraud.
The candidates react
Despite the evidence of systematic manipulation of absentee ballots, Mark Harris called on the election to be certified, claiming the number of votes at issue wasn't large enough to change the outcome of the race.
As 538's Nate Silver pointed out, this claim is not true -- there are enough votes at issue to flip the result.
McCready, in a statement, supported the board's decision to delay certifying the election and investigate.
The right to vote is a foundation of our democracy. Any effort to rob a person of that right should be met with the full force of justice. Today's decision is a strong step toward ensuring that the people of the 9th District have the answers they deserve and any bad actors are held accountable.
What's next
Under state law, the North Carolina State Board of Elections has the power to order new elections. Under Section 4, it can order a new election even if it determines fraud was not pervasive enough to change the outcome, provided "[i]rregularities or improprieties occurred to such an extent that they taint the results of the entire election and cast doubt on its fairness."
(a) When State Board May Order New Election. – The State Board may order a new election, upon agreement of at least five of its members, in the case of any one or more of the following:
(1) Ineligible voters sufficient in number to change the outcome of the election were allowed to vote in the election, and it is not possible from examination of the official ballots to determine how those ineligible voters voted and to correct the totals.
(2) Eligible voters sufficient in number to change the outcome of the election were improperly prevented from voting.
(3) Other irregularities affected a sufficient number of votes to change the outcome of the election.
(4) Irregularities or improprieties occurred to such an extent that they taint the results of the entire election and cast doubt on its fairness.
The State Board of Elections will hold a hearing on what happened in Bladen and neighboring counties on or before December 21. The board is composed of four Democrats, four Republicans, and one independent.
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