Monday, December 3, 2018

North Carolina Congressional Seat: Last in Nation to be Counted in Midterms Continues

One of many documented charts from the site 
(Link in Vox.com below)

Update on the post that follows below that originally looked like an “unimportant” piece of news when I posted it, but because the topic interested me and I posted about it. Now this update from here (Roll Call via msn) makes the story a bit more important and interesting.

Introduction from this update:

Republicans in North Carolina are pressuring the state elections board there to certify the 9th District results, even as officials continue to investigate irregularities in absentee voting.

Those irregularities, and a handful of sworn statements alleging illegal “harvesting” of absentee ballots, have led to accusations of election fraud for the benefit of Republican Mark Harris.

Harris, a Baptist minister, defeated Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes in the unofficial count. But the 9-person elections board voted 7-2 on Friday to delay certifying those results as it continues to examine inconsistencies in mail-in absentee ballots in the district, particularly in GOP-leaning Bladen County (I note: Refer to the graph above).

Harris and the state GOP have criticized the board for not publicly providing evidence that enough votes have been called into question to swing the outcome of the election.

The board’s 7-2 vote on Friday included a provision to hold a public hearing by December 21 regarding its investigation.

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Original post follows:

Hanky panky in the last CD where votes need to be counted in the midterms and in nasty North Carolina – the state that has had tons of voting irregularities – this adds to that long list – this story from Vox.com here:

North Carolina election officials have declined to certify the winner of the state’s 9th Congressional District election, after allegations were made suggesting absentee ballots may have been tampered with.

Elections officials and Democrats have been careful not to allege any specific wrongdoing so far. But the allegations appear to suggest some kind of scheme, undertaken by people supporting the GOP campaign, to influence the results of an election ultimately decided by less than 1,000 votes.

According to the votes as currently counted, Republican Mark Harris beat Democrat Dan McCready by a little more than 900 votes to become the next Congressional member from the Ninth CD.

But earlier this week, the state board of elections unanimously agreed it would not certify the election results, making vague references to unfortunate activities that raised doubts about their veracity.

Some specific irregularities were later revealed in sworn affidavits sent by Democratic attorneys to the state board include:

* Multiple voters described an unidentified woman coming to voters’ houses and taking their absentee ballots.

* Some ballots were uncompleted – the unidentified woman promised “to finish filling them out.”

* In other affidavits, voters alleged that a local political operative was working for the Harris campaign on absentee ballots, and that he would be paid a bonus if Harris beat McCready.

* Furthermore, political scientists in the state have noted that the Ninth District had an unusually high number of mail-in absentee ballots requested but then not returned to be counted.

* Almost one in four of those requested absentee ballots were not returned in the Ninth, substantially higher in than any other North Carolina congressional district.

Currently, there is a serious question as to whether ‘irregularities or improprieties occurred to such an extent that they taint the results of the entire election and cast doubt on its fairness,’” said John Wallace, an attorney working for the state Democratic Party in a letter sent to the board of elections.

My 2 cents: Wow – what a compelling story. However, the GOP is silent on their ranting about: “voter fraud, illegals voting, or DEM ploy to win at any cost.”

Even at this early stage it seems like a GOP-run ploy full of dirty tricks – not surprised. Wait and see.

Thanks for stopping by.

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