Protest Filed in North Carolina Over Potential Voter Fraud in Governor Race
Decision may not come until after Thanksgiving.
No one has called the North Carolina governor’s race between incumbent Governor Pat McCrory (R) and his challenger Roy Cooper (D) since only 5,000 votes separate the two. To make matters worse, there are now allegations of voter fraud on absentee ballots:
A protest has been filed in Bladen County alleging that a handful of people may have improperly submitted hundreds of absentee ballots, while also getting paid for get-out-the-vote efforts by a community group funded by the N.C. Democratic Party.
According to the protest filed by McCrae Dowless, who won election as soil and water district supervisor, the handwriting on a number of ballots and the signatures of some mail-in absentee witnesses were similar. He said the questioned ballots seem to have been cast in favor of a straight ticket of candidates and also to vote for a man named Franklin Graham, who ran a write-in campaign for soil and water district supervisor.
A letter the Bladen County elections board wrote to the State Board of Elections, and attached to the complaint, raises the same concerns. While some ballots listed witnesses, few include the documentation that would be required if someone had also assisted the voters, according to the letter.
“These are not simply helpful individuals who have attempted to assist a large swath of Bladen County’s voters to cast their ballots,” Dowless wrote. “This is the shocking evidence resulting from a blatant scheme to try to impact the voting results of an entire county and perhaps even sway statewide and federal elections.”
The complaint does not mention the governor’s race, but McCrory’s campaign released this statement in an email:
“A massive voting fraud scheme has been uncovered in Bladen County,” McCrory’s campaign manager said in an emailed solicitation for financial contributions. “Hundreds of absentee ballots appear to have been fraudulently cast for Roy Cooper and other Democrats. Initial evidence shows that a North Carolina Democrat Party-funded group may have paid people to cast fraudulent votes to tip this election to Roy Cooper!”
McCrory has also demanded a recount in Durham County due to massive problems on Election Day, that drew criticism from both sides of the aisle. Thomas stark, the general counsel for the North Carolina GOP, filed the protest:
“What transpired in Durham County is extremely troubling and no citizen can have confidence in the results at this point in time,” said Jason Torchinsky, chief legal counsel for the Pat McCrory Committee Legal Defense Fund. “The Durham County Board of Elections has a history of mishandling elections and it is unfortunate that this one appears to be no different.”
Bethesda Ruritan Club had to shut down its polls for 90 minutes because the workers ran out of forms, causing people to miss out on voting. Electronic devices in the county malfunctioned, which meant poll workers had to hand out paper forms. These problems had Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens declare that the county “historically hasn’t figured out how to carry out an election properly.”
Officials didn’t count 90,000 early votes until late on Election Day, which caused the flip from McCrory to Cooper. This immediately raised eyebrows within the McCrory campaign with “the sudden emergence of over 90,000 votes.”
The State Bureau of Investigation has also opened an investigation “into whether crimes were committed in last spring’s primary election in Durham County.”
But now the Board of Elections will travel through the “counties to double check the results.” The officials hope to have an official count by November 29. But if they decide to do a recount it could take longer.
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Comments
The temptation to cheat is perennial, and cuts across party lines. Further, people will find inventive ways to cheat.
Each generation needs to assure that its voting procedures are clean and auditable.
“The temptation to cheat is perennial, and cuts across party lines.”
I really wish we would stop with the “both sides do it” virtue signaling.
It seems like every time the Left does something wrong, ranging from mob violence (2016) to stealing an election (2000), we have this urge to be pose as a Wise Solomon – afraid to single out corruption by the Left unless be can blame both sides.
I’m not saying that’s what you are doing here, and it may just be an aspect of human nature – this desire to be seen as above the fray, to be viewed as “fair” by judging both sides guilty even when one side is the victim. But its wrong, demoralizing, and it handicaps our effort to root out corruption.
Its a surrendering of intellectual integrity. It shields the offenders while spreading blame to those who were injured. And from my experience, its done solely so the speaker can earn VPs for being “reasonable and objective”.
Sure, when the Right cheats, nail them to the wall. But can we stop blaming both sides whenever we catch the Left cheating?
And sorry. I truly am NOT trying to poke at you or pick a fight with you. I’m just weary of watching the Right surrender ground to look pretty. It’s Vanity. And I know its Vanity, not because I am some saint, but because its one of the Seven Deadlies that I have the hardest time with.
I called this last Wednesday when it appeared so odd that NC voted overwhelmingly voted for Trump/Pence, Burr, Forest, and every other state level GOP candidate – except Governor Pat McCrory. It didn’t make sense and I immediately suspected someone was playing illegal games. “Voting irregularities” have been found in several counties, particularly Bladen and Durham Counties. Something ain’t right.
If true, these cheaters need to be turned into an object lesson.
I think one of the reasons voter fraud is dismissed as “insignificant” is because the Right goes wobbly
1) when we lose, we don’t want to be *seen* as sore losers
2) when we win, we want to be *seen* as unifying
We enable it. Which means in future elections, the amount of votes we need to pad our lead by to overcome vote fraud creeps up and up.
The perps need to be treated without mercy – prosecuted and sent to prison, and their families ruined by lawsuits for violating the civil rights of the people of North Carolina. Make them famous, them make the rubble bounce.
Or you will get more of it.
/really wish we had an edit function
Make them famous, THEN make the rubble bounce
I’m not the first to say that Trump’s administration should move on combating voter fraud to the maximum extent possible by the federal government.
I propose that we vote the old fashioned way by standing in the polling place and entering our choices at the machines. Voting is not only a right but a duty! Only truly handicapped and people who will be out of state should be allowed to vote by absentee ballot. If you stop and think about it, why would any vote cheater use any other method but absentee voting? If we need proof of voter fraud all we have to do is ask al franken.
Been there…seen it before http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/final-washington-state-recount-results-gregoire-by-130/
Someone ‘found’ a couple bags of uncounted ballots in the trunk of a car which made the difference.
How many other counties, besides Bladen, have Democrat PACs running this kind of absentee ballot scam? And also, courtesy of the Richmond Court of Appeals, we probably had a fair amount of fraudulent same-day registration and voting. It may be that cheating is a universal human failing, but around here, it assumes a Democrat flavor most of the time.
… but around here, it assumes a Democrat flavor
mostall of the time.FIFY, TarHeel.
Just read on another website that the investigation has now expanded to 11 counties…
12 now, and they’ve uncovered a fake absentee ballot mill operating out of Bladen County.
According to the protest filed by McCrae Dowless, who won election as soil and water district supervisor, the handwriting on a number of ballots and the signatures of some mail-in absentee witnesses were similar. He said the questioned ballots seem to have been cast in favor of a straight ticket of candidates and also to vote for a man named Franklin Graham, who ran a write-in campaign for soil and water district supervisor.
Franklin Graham, son of Billy, heads up the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, but he resides in Boone, NC in mountainous Watauga County located in the far NW part of the state while Bladen County is SE on the coastal plain. I would think that he has little time for an elected position anywhere. Besides, he likes Donald Trump and got into trouble with the left by shutting down Muslim prayers at Duke. Scammers will be scammers and made-up write-in candidates is one way to go.