maybe it is because I am from CA

[NastyWoman]

and don't like how my state has been consistently slandered by the man in charge, but would some of his supporters be kind enough to explain this to us please:

"The executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections revealed Monday that state officials had uncovered a “coordinated” and “unlawful” effort to collect absentee ballots on behalf of a Republican congressional candidate in the November election.

Kim Strach, the board’s executive director, made the comments at a closely watched public evidentiary hearing in Raleigh on Monday following a monthslong investigation into election irregularities in the state’s 9th Congressional District. The state board declined to certify the race last November and could order a new election after the hearing. Republican Mark Harris currently leads Democrat Dan McCready by 905 votes in the race. ..."

www.yahoo.com/huffpost/north-carolina-election-board-finds-181256070.html

Or is it ok as long as this is done by the "nice white conservative men"?

[Tennesseer]

[billisonboard]

If only they had required that each voter show photo ID at the polling place they wouldn't have this problem with election fraud. 

[NastyWoman]

Crickets from the people I asked to comment...

[djAdvocate]

photo ID would not help with this. absentee ballots were collected from Democratic neighborhoods, and most likely either altered and mailed, or shredded.

I doubt it was 905 ballots. but it only needed to be 453, if the first method was used.

[OldCoyote]

What if it was 10?

[djAdvocate]

Feb 18, 2019 19:08:53 GMT -5 OldCoyote said:

What if it was 10?

that is why this effort might fail.

imo, it probably SHOULD if the numbers are that low.

mind you, it would be different if the candidate tampered the ballots, or personally paid for someone to do it (under his direction).

that would be a criminal matter which should probably disqualify him.

but if he didn't, then he should be given his seat.

no decision has been made on this point yet, which is why they are not YET asking for a new election.

edit: just so you know, I have read that the person who did the tampering gathered "hundreds" of ballots.  905 is a LOT of "hundreds".  I think that if the number was over 400- if this can be shown or if it is "reasonably likely" that the number was this high, there should be a new election.  otherwise, they should probably drop this one, and let the candidate win, UNLESS the same or greater case can be made for his primary (which also had the same problem).

[djAdvocate]

I was interested in seeing the transcripts from this trial, so I pulled them up. check these out:

this came EARLY in the trial:

Strach says Red Dome paid Dowless $131,357 total in the ‘18 election and more than $80,000 in the general election.

ok, so we have those numbers. this is much bigger than I thought, and here is why (note: Brit worked FOR Dowless.  no doubt that Dowless made something for her efforts.  but even if she took 90% of the money, these numbers are still rather significant):



11:20 a.m.: Britt says she was paid to collect absentee ballots. She claims if a ballot was properly witnessed, voters would submit it. Says they’d collect ballots if they needed more witness signatures. Britt says she was paid roughly $125 per 50 ballots at first and, later, flat fee of $200/week. Says getting ballots was harder than request forms because “a lot of people don’t want to give you their absentee ballot."



11:05 a.m.: Lisa Britt describes how she went around and got people to fill out absentee ballot request forms. Says forms were pre-filled. Says she helped fill out forms, along with others. Britt says Dowless maintained copies of forms in his office. She’s now listing off people who worked w/ Dowless to distribute request forms.



Britt says she worked in Bladen, Columbus and Robeson Counties for Dowless. Says she heard some worked in other counties but isn’t sure. She says she was paid between $150-$175 for every 50 absentee ballot request forms.

ok, so let's be liberal here and say she got $4/ballot. that means roughly 12,000 ballots in the primary and 20,000 in the GE.

I am guessing, based on those numbers, we are heading for a new election on this.  these numbers are way bigger than 905.

I want to add one more thing about all of this. I hate to rub this in AGAIN, but does anyone remember me mentioning what I thought about voter fraud? I said that IN PERSON voter fraud is a very rare thing. it has probably NEVER determined an electional outcome. ABSENTEE voter fraud, however, has in fact determined the outcome of SEVERAL elections. yet, the GOP seems utterly uninterested in going after absentee voter fraud.

I doubt that NC will change that. I am just pointing it out. AGAIN.

[OldCoyote]

Hmmmm, how long would it take to collect 32,000 ballots?

[djAdvocate]

Feb 18, 2019 19:52:11 GMT -5 OldCoyote said:

Hmmmm, how long would it take to collect 32,000 ballots?

you should note that this is the maximum number of ballots collected.

I refined the numbers a bit more in the election thread, based on what

I presume Dowless took. and the answer is that the number of ballots

matches the timeline almost exactly.

edit: for those of you that don't want to wander over to that thread, I will post the conclusion here:

I am betting that NC9 will hold a new GE AND a new PRIMARY. so, yeah, this is going to start all over again.

I hope they make Harris pay for it. but I have my doubts. then again, I also doubt he will win, which is justice enough.

[OldCoyote]

How long is it between when the absent ballots are sent out until they are due?

[djAdvocate]

Feb 18, 2019 20:22:33 GMT -5 OldCoyote said:

How long is it between when the absent ballots are sent out until they are due?

about six months.

edit: again, I worked out the numbers and the timeline on the election thread.  I am pretty confident that the numbers are MORE than enough to throw this election.  by a factor of as much as 10x.

so, I would like some "sanctity of election" folks to chime in now.  there is clearly an issue in this election.

[OldCoyote]

OK.