Republican congressional candidate Mark Harris addresses the crowd as President Donald Trump listens at the Bojangles Coliseum on October 26, 2018 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo: Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
After Years of Fearmongering Mythical Threat of Voter Fraud, GOP 'Silence Now Deafening' as Real Election Fraud Exposed in North Carolina
"There's finally a case that looks like real, election-changing election fraud. It just so happens that it's alleged to have benefited a Republican. Suddenly, the North Carolina GOP is less concerned about the effects of fraud."
The Republican Party and President Donald Trump have spent a lot of time issuing hysterical, racist, and evidence-free warnings about the prevalence of "voter fraud" in the U.S. as a pretext to roll back voting rights, but the GOP has been conspicuously silent after what has been described as a clear case of election fraud was discovered in North Carolina's 9th congressional district (NC-09), where a Republican candidate edged out his Democratic opponent by just over 900 votes.
"Not enough people are talking about this clear case of election fraud. A new election must be held immediately."
--Rep. Ro Khanna
Last week, the North Carolina State Board of Elections and Ethics voted unanimously against certifying Republican Mark Harris' narrow win over Democrat Dan McCready, with one member of the board vaguely citing "unfortunate activities" that may have distorted the final results.
Reporting and witness testimony in the days since the board vote has detailed "a slew of evidence" indicating that GOP operatives carried out a large ballot-harvesting effort, in which thousands of absentee ballots may have been collected and destroyed in an attempt to swing the election in the Republican Party's favor.
As USA Today notes, "A large majority of those unreturned ballots belonged to African-Americans and Native American voters."
"There is now overwhelming evidence that Republicans in NC-09 paid people to collect mail-in ballots which were never sent in," Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) wrote on Twitter. "Not enough people are talking about this clear case of election fraud. A new election must be held immediately."
Reportedly led by long-time Republican operative Leslie McCrae Dowless, who worked for Harris' campaign, the alleged election fraud operation involved paying North Carolinians to go door-to-door and collect absentee ballots and hand them over to Dowless.
One woman who says she was paid by Dowless said she wasn't aware the operation was illegal because Dowless "has been doing it for years." The woman said she never saw Dowless mail in the ballots.
"The Justice Department must investigate this," declared Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. "In a different time, an attorney general would be speaking forcefully against recent voter suppression efforts, vowing to do everything possible to protect fair elections. The silence now is deafening."
"In a different time, an attorney general would be speaking forcefully against recent voter suppression efforts, vowing to do everything possible to protect fair elections. The silence now is deafening."
--Vanita Gupta, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
As state investigators have probed the numerous election fraud accusations in recent days, President Donald Trump--who warned about "voter fraud" repeatedly in the days prior to November's midterms--has not yet said or tweeted a word about the North Carolina accusations.
Democratic congressional leaders, for their part, have vowed not to seat Harris in the new Congress until the fraud accusations are sufficiently investigated. Harris has denied any knowledge of illegal election activity.
In a statement on Wednesday, Rep. Gerry Connelly (D-Va.), a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, demanded an emergency hearing on the possibly tainted North Carolina election.
"Real election fraud is playing out right before us," Connelly said. "Votes have been stolen by preying on senior and minority voters, and now a cloud of doubt and suspicion hangs over this election result."
As The Atlantic's David Graham wrote in a summary of the North Carolina accusations, "After years of insisting there's rampant election fraud in North Carolina and accusing Democrats of indifference or complicity, there's finally a case that looks like real, election-changing election fraud."
"It just so happens that it's alleged to have benefited a Republican," Graham concluded. "Suddenly, the North Carolina GOP is less concerned about the effects of fraud."
We are at a crossroads
This country and this world are at a monumental crossroads. US voters have an opportunity to beat back the forces of fascism and confront the billionaires who are rigging the economy, our media system, and our democracy, making it increasingly impossible for ordinary people to get by. We’re not just talking about the election. We’re talking about what must be done once these fascist elements are vanquished from power. We need a bolder set of solutions than what either major party has so far been willing to offer and a working-class movement ready to fight like hell for it. Trump didn't emerge from nowhere. The conditions that fueled MAGA authoritarianism were created by decades of radical neoliberal economic policies and a corrupt political system dominated by corporate interests. They slashed taxes on the super-rich, promising that the benefits would trickle down. They said giveaways to the corporate titans would make life more affordable for the rest of us. It was all bullshit. And when a bitter, betrayed populace searches for someone to blame, right-wing demagogues have little trouble finding scapegoats. People know when they're being lied to, but you won't hear any of this from the corporate media. Only independent journalism—powered and funded by people who believe in building a better world—can deliver truly trustworthy daily news. Our Fall Campaign is underway, and we need your help. To power our newsroom through the rest of the year, we need to raise $125,000 by midnight on October 31. So if you share our vision, please contribute whatever you can to sustain our work. |
The Republican Party and President Donald Trump have spent a lot of time issuing hysterical, racist, and evidence-free warnings about the prevalence of "voter fraud" in the U.S. as a pretext to roll back voting rights, but the GOP has been conspicuously silent after what has been described as a clear case of election fraud was discovered in North Carolina's 9th congressional district (NC-09), where a Republican candidate edged out his Democratic opponent by just over 900 votes.
"Not enough people are talking about this clear case of election fraud. A new election must be held immediately."
--Rep. Ro Khanna
Last week, the North Carolina State Board of Elections and Ethics voted unanimously against certifying Republican Mark Harris' narrow win over Democrat Dan McCready, with one member of the board vaguely citing "unfortunate activities" that may have distorted the final results.
Reporting and witness testimony in the days since the board vote has detailed "a slew of evidence" indicating that GOP operatives carried out a large ballot-harvesting effort, in which thousands of absentee ballots may have been collected and destroyed in an attempt to swing the election in the Republican Party's favor.
As USA Today notes, "A large majority of those unreturned ballots belonged to African-Americans and Native American voters."
"There is now overwhelming evidence that Republicans in NC-09 paid people to collect mail-in ballots which were never sent in," Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) wrote on Twitter. "Not enough people are talking about this clear case of election fraud. A new election must be held immediately."
Reportedly led by long-time Republican operative Leslie McCrae Dowless, who worked for Harris' campaign, the alleged election fraud operation involved paying North Carolinians to go door-to-door and collect absentee ballots and hand them over to Dowless.
One woman who says she was paid by Dowless said she wasn't aware the operation was illegal because Dowless "has been doing it for years." The woman said she never saw Dowless mail in the ballots.
"The Justice Department must investigate this," declared Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. "In a different time, an attorney general would be speaking forcefully against recent voter suppression efforts, vowing to do everything possible to protect fair elections. The silence now is deafening."
"In a different time, an attorney general would be speaking forcefully against recent voter suppression efforts, vowing to do everything possible to protect fair elections. The silence now is deafening."
--Vanita Gupta, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
As state investigators have probed the numerous election fraud accusations in recent days, President Donald Trump--who warned about "voter fraud" repeatedly in the days prior to November's midterms--has not yet said or tweeted a word about the North Carolina accusations.
Democratic congressional leaders, for their part, have vowed not to seat Harris in the new Congress until the fraud accusations are sufficiently investigated. Harris has denied any knowledge of illegal election activity.
In a statement on Wednesday, Rep. Gerry Connelly (D-Va.), a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, demanded an emergency hearing on the possibly tainted North Carolina election.
"Real election fraud is playing out right before us," Connelly said. "Votes have been stolen by preying on senior and minority voters, and now a cloud of doubt and suspicion hangs over this election result."
As The Atlantic's David Graham wrote in a summary of the North Carolina accusations, "After years of insisting there's rampant election fraud in North Carolina and accusing Democrats of indifference or complicity, there's finally a case that looks like real, election-changing election fraud."
"It just so happens that it's alleged to have benefited a Republican," Graham concluded. "Suddenly, the North Carolina GOP is less concerned about the effects of fraud."
The Republican Party and President Donald Trump have spent a lot of time issuing hysterical, racist, and evidence-free warnings about the prevalence of "voter fraud" in the U.S. as a pretext to roll back voting rights, but the GOP has been conspicuously silent after what has been described as a clear case of election fraud was discovered in North Carolina's 9th congressional district (NC-09), where a Republican candidate edged out his Democratic opponent by just over 900 votes.
"Not enough people are talking about this clear case of election fraud. A new election must be held immediately."
--Rep. Ro Khanna
Last week, the North Carolina State Board of Elections and Ethics voted unanimously against certifying Republican Mark Harris' narrow win over Democrat Dan McCready, with one member of the board vaguely citing "unfortunate activities" that may have distorted the final results.
Reporting and witness testimony in the days since the board vote has detailed "a slew of evidence" indicating that GOP operatives carried out a large ballot-harvesting effort, in which thousands of absentee ballots may have been collected and destroyed in an attempt to swing the election in the Republican Party's favor.
As USA Today notes, "A large majority of those unreturned ballots belonged to African-Americans and Native American voters."
"There is now overwhelming evidence that Republicans in NC-09 paid people to collect mail-in ballots which were never sent in," Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) wrote on Twitter. "Not enough people are talking about this clear case of election fraud. A new election must be held immediately."
Reportedly led by long-time Republican operative Leslie McCrae Dowless, who worked for Harris' campaign, the alleged election fraud operation involved paying North Carolinians to go door-to-door and collect absentee ballots and hand them over to Dowless.
One woman who says she was paid by Dowless said she wasn't aware the operation was illegal because Dowless "has been doing it for years." The woman said she never saw Dowless mail in the ballots.
"The Justice Department must investigate this," declared Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. "In a different time, an attorney general would be speaking forcefully against recent voter suppression efforts, vowing to do everything possible to protect fair elections. The silence now is deafening."
"In a different time, an attorney general would be speaking forcefully against recent voter suppression efforts, vowing to do everything possible to protect fair elections. The silence now is deafening."
--Vanita Gupta, Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights
As state investigators have probed the numerous election fraud accusations in recent days, President Donald Trump--who warned about "voter fraud" repeatedly in the days prior to November's midterms--has not yet said or tweeted a word about the North Carolina accusations.
Democratic congressional leaders, for their part, have vowed not to seat Harris in the new Congress until the fraud accusations are sufficiently investigated. Harris has denied any knowledge of illegal election activity.
In a statement on Wednesday, Rep. Gerry Connelly (D-Va.), a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, demanded an emergency hearing on the possibly tainted North Carolina election.
"Real election fraud is playing out right before us," Connelly said. "Votes have been stolen by preying on senior and minority voters, and now a cloud of doubt and suspicion hangs over this election result."
As The Atlantic's David Graham wrote in a summary of the North Carolina accusations, "After years of insisting there's rampant election fraud in North Carolina and accusing Democrats of indifference or complicity, there's finally a case that looks like real, election-changing election fraud."
"It just so happens that it's alleged to have benefited a Republican," Graham concluded. "Suddenly, the North Carolina GOP is less concerned about the effects of fraud."