For awhile last week, it looked like at least one state Republican Party cared about election integrity after all. Even in the face of virtually uncontestable evidence that Republican Mark Harris’ 905-vote lead over Democrat Dan McCready in NC-09 was tainted by some of the most egregious absentee ballot fraud ever uncovered, North Carolina Repubs were adamant that Harris be certified as the winner unless there was evidence the fraud could have changed the outcome.
That appeared to change on Tuesday with news that early voting totals in Bladen County, the epicenter of the massive absentee ballot fraud, were tallied too soon. While early voting details by voter registration are public record, we’re not supposed to know who voted for whom until the polls close on Election Day. Even worse, it looks like the early voting totals were leaked to Republican operatives. As if they had a choice, the state GOP called for a new election if this is proven to be true.
That moment of integrity lasted six days. On Monday morning, the state GOP and Republican officials in NC-09 irately demanded that Harris be certified as the winner.
North Carolina Republicans rallied behind 9th District congressional candidate Mark Harris on Monday ahead of a trial-like hearing on allegations of voter fraud that could nullify his victory.
Republicans asked state elections officials to certify Harris’s disputed election to Congress unless it finds that alleged irregularities would have changed the outcome.
The Republicans in this seven-county Charlotte-to-Fayetteville district drafted a resolution demanding Harris be certified as the district’s congressman-elect, which was endorsed by state party chairman Robin Hayes. Read it here. It claims that absent “clear and convincing evidence” that the fraud either changed the outcome of the race or could have changed the outcome, state law demands that Harris be certified as the winner.
One problem—that’s not what state election law says. The state board of elections is allowed to order a new election if it finds evidence of irregularities that “taint the results of the entire election and cast doubt upon its fairness”—even if the fraud didn’t exceed the margin of victory.
But even without that to consider, there is plenty of evidence that this fraud could have changed the outcome. We know that an absentee ballot operation overseen by McCrae Dowless, an independent contractor for Harris’ main campaign consultant, sent out people to collect ballots before they were signed and sealed and even filled in incomplete ballots. We also know that at least 1,000 absentee ballots never made it to Raleigh. How clearer and more convincing can you get?
In a staggering display of logical opera buffa, the resolution calls for a new election if it is indeed true that early voting totals were leaked in Bladen County. But it then irately resolves that “Dr. Mark Harris is Congressman-Elect for the 9th Congressional District.”
Somebody’s trying to have it both ways. And somebody also forgets that the House is the ultimate judge on this matter. House Democrats are already on record as saying that they will not seat Harris, given the stench of fraud in this election. If the state board ignores this evidence and certifies Harris, the House would be well within its rights to conduct its own investigation and order a new election, complete with a new primary.
This staggeringly tone-deaf GOP resolution left The Charlotte Observer scratching its head in an editorial that will run in tomorrow’s paper.
Exhaustive reporting by news outlets, along with the board’s own probe, makes it appear almost certain that absentee ballots were handled improperly. At this point no one knows exactly how many votes were tainted, but thousands of ballots were requested and not returned. State law says the board can call for a new election when irregularities “taint the results of the entire election and cast doubt on its fairness.”
Given such shadows, what is to be gained by certifying the results? And what does the state board have to gain by stalling?
That same editorial also rapped the Democrats hard for pooh-poohing calls for a completely new election, primaries and all. After all, Harris narrowly defeated three-term incumbent Robert Pittenger in the Republican primary mainly by winning an implausible 437 out of 456 absentee ballots in Bladen County. The significance? Harris won the primary by 828 votes, or 2.3 percent—just over the threshold that would have allowed Pittenger to ask for a recount. Pittenger reportedly complained to state Republican officials, only to be ignored.
Given the circumstances, holding a completely new primary wouldn’t be out of line. As much as we want McCready to be the first Democrat to win this seat since 1953, this district deserves a congressman who was elected legitimately—regardless of party.
North Carolinians need to take note of this in 2020. By irately insisting that a congressman-elect be seated even in the face of staggering evidence of fraud, they have proven that they are unfit to govern.