Did NCGOP HQ drop the ball on Robeson vote fraud?
Some emails we’ve obtained would seem to suggest that.
Just the other day, the state board of elections voted along party lines to certify a Robeson County judicial election that had been caught up in the hubbub over the Ninth Congressional District race. The entirety of Robeson County is in the Ninth District.
One of the biggest reasons given by the state board for a lack of investigation or hearings into Robeson County? According to state elections director Kim Strach, her office received NO COMPLAINTS regarding Robeson County.
That apparently didn’t sit too well with Robeson GOP chairman Philip Stephens:
Dallas:
Today the State Board of Elections certified the Robeson Judicial Race along Party lines.
Republicans lost the argument that a Congressional Race fraud affected a Congressional Race by 900 votes – but didn’t affect a judicial race on the same ballot (71 votes) even though the Republican won in voting and lost ONLY after absentee & provisionals were counted. Absentee & provisional being the very ballots that have questionable security and complaints.
When our Judicial candidate & his attorney brought up all the Democrat irregularities in Robeson – Kim et al says they received no complaints.
We have no idea why they don’t consider it a complaint from the gentleman who testified for our judicial candidate during the Harris hearing about Robeson irregularities.
But we also did as NCGOP instructs & sent not only concerns BUT also sworn affidavits like the one attached on Dec 14th.
We sent this on Dec. 14th because GOP attorneys started telling us they weren’t working for NCGOP that far after the election. Or that’s what Neal Inman told us on Nov 27th when I asked for a status on affidavits and complaints we had forwarded to the legal team. He replied that he no longer worked for the party. He was at the General Assembly.
Nov. 29th we provided more concerns about absentee ballots to Roger Knight & didn’t hear anything back.
Dec. 10th we gave Dallas a head’s up that the DA’s office had a box of evidence that we hoped NCBOE investigators would request. We have no idea if that was ever requested.
The point is we passed along complaints to the Legal Team or officials. Now the Board says it is aware of nothing.
What happens to all those complaints we file?
What happens to the affidavits we collect & pass along?
Our judicial candidate is going to appeal, but the case is weaker with NCBOE claiming they received no complaints.
[Our candidate was] the same Republican attorney that Gov. McCrory passed over & instead appointed a Democrat to fill a judicial seat. Despite the fact our Republican attorney was recommended by the local bar.
Do we not have procedures in place for our legal team to pass along local complaints?
Any Suggestions?
Here’s the response from the state Republican Party’s “leadership” team:
On Mar 5, 2019, at 7:56 AM, Robin Hayes <rchayes6@gmail.com> wrote:
Would it be worthwhile to see if Nick Ochsner Wbtv is aware?
Sent from my iPad
On Mar 5, 2019, at 7:45 AM, Dallas Woodhouse <dallas.woodhouse@ncgop.org> wrote:
The decision here is absurd
But it is political
Sent from my iPhone
*Now, THAT is what I call “helpful.”*
To see if Nick Ochsner is aware of WHAT? That your own team made complaints from Robeson Republicans disappear into a black hole?
Here’s the reply to THAT from Mr. Stephens:
It is absurd. And I talked to Oschner yesterday.
We’re trying to find some folks who will talk to Oschner.
Do we have a file at NCGOP of all the complaints we submitted?
Do we need to resubmit them or send to State Board?
Did the State Board subpoena the box of 2016 evidence sitting in the DA’s office?
We understand with a 3-2 split vote on the state board it is politically absurd. Our GOP Judicial candidate was taken aback when State Board said there was no complaints coming out of Robeson. So he wanted us to track down that chain as they are going to appeal.
Do we keep that in a file at NCGOP somewhere? I’ve got some copies on my email of sending stuff to the Election Day Legal Team. Wondering where does it go after we send it to NCGOP and if there is anything else we can do.
If nothing was done with the complaints – then we need to sit down and develop some concrete procedures in the future while we get screwed on this judicial race and this judicial candidate gets screwed yet again. He was passed over one time. Passed over by McCroy. Now stolen by Dems & State Board.
Looking for help and/or guidance – Thanks
Phillip
Neal Inman now works on the staff of House speaker Tim Moore. Prior to that, he was employed by the state party to serve as Election Day Operations Director. From what I understand, one of his main responsibilities while at NCGOP was to serve as a watchdog to see that the party’s interests are being served during the election.
Houston, we have a problem. And it looks like one that needs some serious attention before 2020.
I think each candidate would do him/herself a favor to have a lawyer ready to go directly to the SBOE directly with any and all complaints from now on, with extensive documentation of filing said complaint available. Then after they do that they need to inform the incompetent GOP folks of a complaint in process. It is totally evident that the folks at headquarters are just sitting around enjoying the perks of being some kind of big shot while totally ignoring their duties. It is totally absurd that they did not fully lawyer up and move heaven and earth to bring out the well know fraud that takes place in Robco as a counter point to the little bit that happened elsewhere.
Where was the Robeson County GOP? Why didn’t they file a complaint?
Read it again. Stephens is the party chairman in Robeson. Apparently, the state HQ told county organizations to send their complaints to them.
It’s a great idea for each candidate to have an attorney, but the reality is, except for the very high dollar races, I don’t see how that’s feasible. Good election lawyers are expensive. Something tells me that Mark Elias isn’t doing all this legal work for Democrats on a pro bono basis, but you never know. I think the state party needs a comprehensive legal strategy to complement a cohesive political strategy, kind of like the other side does. Waiting for Election Day won’t cut it.
Yes, the team we now have at NCGOP displayed an incredible level of incompetence and inaction in the 9th district fiasco. If they had done what they should have done, we should have been able to protect Mark Harris’ victory.