NC-09: Kangaroo Court is in session
The Alinskyite effort by the left to steal a congressional election in North Carolina opened a new chapter Monday. State elections board supervisor Kim Strach was posing and preening like an innocent bystander to the whole thing.
Hillary Clinton’s white-shoe high-dollar DC lawyers are leading the charge against a few members of the Bladen County bar. The Raleigh and Charlotte drivebys are on-scene dutifully taking dictation and acting surprised at what has been SOP in North Carolina small-town elections for DECADES.
The whole state board of elections hearing is focused like a laser beam on events in Bladen County because there are some possible GOP fingerprints there. Meanwhile, the much more flagrant, over-the-top abuses in next door Robeson County (perpetrated almost exclusively by Democrats and their operatives) are HO-HUMmed. It’s clear the power brokers are determined to “fix” the November vote behind-the-scenes and correct the “mistakes” made by the foolish little people. Mark Harris and the other Republican candidates in the Ninth District don’t stand a chance — as things stand. This has all the fairness of a kitten facing off against a dozen pit bulls who haven’t eaten in three days.
Here are a few thoughts on the action so far:
Big news? Nope. At least not if you’ve EVER been in the middle of a small-town, small-county election in North Carolina. (Or one in a mostly-poor, mostly-minority community in the state.)
Get-out-the-vote, “hauling” ballot-harvesting, et. al. have been part of a below-radar, black-market cottage industry for decades in these communities. (Check my analysis of the Democrat campaign reports in Robeson County documented in previous 
posts on this site.) You have the same pool of people getting paid by several campaigns doing business in the county. Fees are adjusted upward or downward based on how many warm bodies or properly-filled-out ballots make it to polling places. You’ve got preachers, politicians, and so-called civil rights leaders making a $$$$$ killing on this type of thing.
You have a select community of people who show themselves every campaign season and rake in a lot of un-taxed income from various and sundry political campaigns seeking votes in their territories.
This has been around for DECADES. These operatives all have territories and have an unwritten code of conduct about things like poaching other people’s drivers, territories, or riders (for instance).
Delivering ballots for other people. Filling in ballots for other people. This is all a by-product of the poor public education system AND the dumbing down of voting requirements. Removing requirements for, say, literacy, double-digit IQ, or competence in the English language creates a sizable bloc of voters dependent on other people to “help” them fill out ballots. The law is pretty clear about how problematic delivering ballots to the elections board for other people can be.
It cracked me up listening to Kim Strach express shock over such behavior. One would think the county elections staff would be educated on election law to the point of being able to say:“No, this is illegal. We will not accept your 200 ballots. And we will be calling the SBI and the FBI.”
Why is there no record of anyone in the county offices in question trying to stop the practice by saying something to that effect? Weren’t they trained? And if so — or if not — WHO was supposed to provide that training and ensure it is followed. Why, that would be Mrs. Strach.
Accessing Early voting stats. Here’s Mrs. Strach — once again, *SHOCKED* at what she is seeing and hearing:
[…] Agnes Willis, another poll worker at the Bladen County early voting site, testified Tuesday that workers looked at some early voting results before Election Day.
Willis said that shortly after the last person voted the Saturday before Election Day, poll workers started shutting down the site at 1:30 p.m.
I talked with a source who has experience administering elections in other counties. This source told me that the advent of early-voting has caused some confusion for long-time poll workers. These election veterans are sooooooo used to running the tape at the end of the voting day. That’s the right thing to do on Election Day, but not on early voting days. It happens more out of habit and instinct than out of an intent to make mischief. MORE:
[…]They ran a receipt-like “tape” that tabulated early voting results. Workers testified that was standard procedure in Bladen County, even though state investigators have said the results should not be tabulated until after the election.
“It was on the table,” Willis said of the early voting tape. “I heard another individual say ‘Oh my God.’ So I turned around to see what he was referring to.”
The voice came from Tojie King, a Democratic poll worker. He was looking at the early voting results from the Bladen County Sheriff’s race.
“He was looking at the tape…I walked over to see what he was looking at…He had his finger on the sheriff’s race.” said Willis. “I was just amazed he was looking at the sheriff’s race and the comments he made…He said I thought this black guy had it.”
Republican sheriff candidate Jim McVicker’s Democratic opponent in the race was black.
“The sheriff’s race in Bladen was such a big thing, I said I don’t think anybody should be looking at these numbers,” she said.
In counties like Bladen, Robeson and Columbus, the electorate often sees the sheriff race as a BIGGER DEAL than the presidential, gubernatorial, or congressional race. It’s not surprising to see so much more interest in this particular sheriff race. The sheriff race would also be more likely to be tampered with by local hooligans for this particular reason. MORE:
[…] “It was extended,” said Willis. The tape was extended about 12 to 18 inches, Willis said, but she wasn’t sure exactly what other races could be seen. The other poll workers, except chief judge Michele Maultsby, all also looked at the early voting results, Willis said. “I didn’t come here to tell a lie. I came to tell the truth,” she said. “The other people did look at it.”
Willis said she didn’t discuss the results with anyone except her daughter.
“The tape was pulled, and I don’t think anyone should be privy to those numbers,” she said. “I didn’t feel right, but nobody told us not to do it.”
Kim Strach, the executive director of the Board of Elections, replied: “Your feeling was correct.”[…]
My election administrator source also tells me that Strach’s crew has a system to tell if and when tapes have been run. Did that alarm system go off here? If it did, why wasn’t Strach’s team on top of it sooner?
It’s interesting to hear the astonishment in Strach’s voice. She’s responsible for the training of the county supervisors AND their employees. If you’re having failures of this grand level, maybe it’s time for personnel changes or serious remedial training (inside and outside The Raleigh Beltline). The integrity of our elections is too important.
The NCGOP has been incompetent or worse in how it has handled this fiasco. It should have been screaming about Robeson County at the top of its lungs from the beginning, and did not. Where are the GOP members on the SBOE to raise the Robeson issue? Did Woodhouse / Hayes put up patsies who sit on their hands as the GOP members of SBOE?
This all points to the desperate need for new leadership at the NCGOP.
and we certainly do not need part of the current NCGOP leadership going to congress
There were 14 contested elections in Bladen County in the November 2018 election and 13 in Robeson County. From the 9th CD race, through NCGA seats, down to elections for County Commissioner and School Boards, many decisions were made for representation on November 6,2018.
Yet, of those 27 contested elections, focus has been on only one, the 9th Congressional District contest. Individual ballots are not mailed out for each race. Absentee voters cast their vote on the exact same ballot as those standing in line on election day, or during early voting.
If the results are tainted due to absentee ballot irregularities for the 9th CD, and they very well may be, why would they not be tainted for all the other 26 contested elections within Bladen and Robeson counties?
Should the new Board of Elections use the authority under the law that states “irregularities or improprieties occurred to such an extent that they taint the results of the entire election and cast doubt on its fairness” to order a new election, would it not cast doubt on the “fairness” of every contested race on the ballots?
I cannot see how one race on a ballot can be tainted, when there were 12 or 13 other races on that same ballot in question that have been certified.
I have not seen this issue raised which is why I submit this letter today. If we ignore and certify the other 26 races on the ballot, and deem them not tainted, then you are on an expedition to upend one election. You are investigating based on the results of one election, and not the “integrity” of all elections.
Something else to consider: Roughly HALF of Bladen County is in that district. ALL of Robeson County is. There was a much bigger population of votes to screw around with in Robeson than in Bladen. But they’re only focusing on Bladen and the congressional race. Because THAT situation has GOP fingerprints on it. The hijinks in Robeson and other locales DO NOT.
Folks, we are all getting played here.
So, Jonathan, you are calling for the confirmation of Mark Harris to NC-09 then?
If the other 26 are not tainted, then let’s get Harris sworn in ASAP.
End of story. Kick the can down the road…. *sigh*
Mark Harris is an Honorable man and would be the best Representative!
Major changes for Robeson and Bladen counties Election supervision, instruction, and observations of daily voters Ballots