POLITICS FEBRUARY 20, 2019 / 8:48 AM / UPDATED AN HOUR AGO

Consultant says unaware of fraud in U.S. House race in North Carolina

Gabriella Borter
3 MIN READ

(Reuters) - A political consultant told North Carolina’s elections board on Wednesday he was not aware an operative working for their Republican candidate had devised an unlawful absentee ballot operation that investigators say was an effort to sway a close congressional race.

The state probe into the disputed Nov. 6 election for the 9th Congressional District seat has uncovered a fraudulent absentee ballot scheme by an operative for Republican candidate Mark Harris, according to testimony at a State Board of Elections hearing in Raleigh that could prompt a new vote.

The seat has remained vacant since state officials refused to certify Harris’ apparent victory over Democratic rival Dan McCready by 905 votes out of 282,717 ballots cast.

The five-member elections board, which must decide if the evidence warrants a new vote, heard on Monday that Republican operative Leslie McCrae Dowless hired workers to collect absentee ballot requests from voters and then return to retrieve the ballots, in violation of state law.

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