NC-09: Is case against Dowless, Harris falling apart before our eyes?

The Raleigh-based Voter Integrity Project, says YES:

 

In response to our Monday report, Voter Integrity Project has received a copy of the 5-page Civilian Absentee Voting Instruction sheet that was sent to all absentee voters in the 2018 mid-term elections which proves that “someone other than a relative/legal guardian” can handle the voter’s absentee ballot envelope.

 

 

Besides raising more questions about the allegations against McCrae Dowless, such evidence raises questions about the legal defense team hired to protect the elected Congressman, Mark Harris.

 

“The entire strategy of the Democrat attorneys depended on Dowless committing some sort of crime,” said VIP Director, Jay DeLancy, “it sure would have been helpful if the BOE staff had mentioned this permission slip.”

 

Rather than setting the record straight, former SBOE Director Kim Strach pushed for prosecution, telling the hushed audience, “we want to make sure that only the voter is the person, or the voter’s near relative, that maintained custody of that ballot until it is in the hands of the Board of Elections for counting.”  (see transcript p.18.)

 

After building a case against Dowless for soliciting votes from his local supporters, the prosecution team pivoted to accusing Harris and his campaign consultant of knowing Dowless broke the law, an allegation they both denied.

 

Dowless, who was not allowed to bring witnesses, decided not to testify unless he was granted immunity. The Board rejected his offer.

 

He later contacted VIP to highlight the loopholes in state law that allowed his activities and to express his outrage at people who harvest ballots from nursing homes.

 

“The legal wording he pointed out has always blocked our efforts to prosecute ballot harvesters,” said VIP Director, Jay DeLancy. “It makes us wonder why the State Board of Elections pursued this lone individual.”

 

Ballot harvesting has been reported in North Carolina nursing homes as well as in mental hospitals and group homes, but such cases are seldom if ever, prosecuted.

 

“Selective law enforcement undermines public trust in our electoral process,” DeLancy said. “So, why is it only treated as a crime when it happens in Bladen County?”

 

We wrote about the discovery of this “interesting” language right before the Ninth Congressional District primary do-over.  The state board took  a looooooong time to respond to our inquiries and those of the Union County elections supervisor.   Only when Charlotte media spoke up did state election officials attempt some damage control.